Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish Mitchel McLaughlin well in his appointment as Speaker, which is an important position in the Assembly. I am sure he will do a very good job. The Ceann Comhairle had considerable association with Speaker Hay and they are responsible for the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. I hope this body will gain in influence, authority and respect. This is an important legacy that Deputy Sean Barrett and Mr. Hay, as Ceann Comhairle and as Speaker respectively, will leave behind.

It is always interesting to read the comments years later by those centrally involved in many of the issues. Time seems to have a way of bringing them around to reflecting on what they did or did not do when they were central to these issues. The former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, he showed great diligence in office in attending Northern Ireland on a regular basis. He seemed to have a passionate belief that he could make serious progress. Out of this came the Good Friday Agreement.

The role of the British Government and the Irish Government in this matter was to respond to the calls of the Northern Ireland Executive and the parties in Northern Ireland to assist in the process of getting agreement on a range of areas where agreement did not appear possible. Dr. Richard Haass and Meghan O'Sullivan did their utmost in making a genuine attempt but it did not succeed in the way that might have been envisaged. That is why, if we did not have the involvement and engagement of the two Governments, we could have had a collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Northern Ireland Executive, which nobody wanted. Principally, this was a case of the parties elected in Northern Ireland setting out to do their duty and fulfil their responsibilities. They were given support and encouragement by both Governments in that regard. It was not a case of the Stormont agreement being implemented despite the Governments here and in Britain. We engaged directly with the parties and sat around a table with them. The parties said that there were certain areas where they could make progress and have an agreement. Obviously, the implications of the budget and the block grant were discussed directly between the Prime Minister, the First Minister, the Deputy First Minister as was, to a lesser extent, the original offer made at the plenary session, which was not accepted and was the subject of further discussion. That is what politicians do, engage and eventually come to an agreement.

Acht na Gaeilge is a case for further discussion and it will not be easy. It does not seem to have attracted the attention or support one might have expected. The position here for a number of years was predominantly taken up by the catastrophic economic consequences and putting together a plan, a strategy and negotiating position to move the country out of that economic swamp. It took up practically all the time of the Government. It is a situation where one would like to travel to Northern Ireland on a far more regular basis. I intend to go there in the near future. This will be welcomed by Deputy Adams, which he said before, no more than he said to Deputy Martin.

I have attended three years in a row at the remembrance ceremonies in Enniskillen. After going to a place on a number of occasions, one gets to know people and there is a deeper understanding of the job we have to do. The people who feel offended and are still hurt as a consequence of what happened in Enniskillen, to name one location, is one reason there is an agreement in respect of the past and the legacy issues, information retrieval and these areas. It was not a case of the Agreement going through despite the attention of Government but, with the full support of the Government, the politicians accepted their responsibility and put together the Agreement. Our job is to monitor it and the Ministers are engaged with one another. The North-South Ministerial Council will take place in early summer and I expect to meet Prime Minister, David Cameron in the near future. There is an electoral process in Britain and he is rather rushed in the time he can spend.

We will do everything we can on these benches to see to it that the agreements are implemented. Everybody wants to see this. The points at issue are ones that are fragile and clearly demand attention from the political process. They will get it. I hope to visit Northern Ireland again shortly and will help in any way I can to encourage people to proceed with implementation of the agreement. At the end of the day it is all about peace, prosperity and opportunity and the branding of the island. That is an issue on which no one would disagree.

Deputy Micheál Martin spoke about the possibility of having a single enterprise unit for the country. We share a brand when I have the opportunity to work abroad with the Minister and the Deputy First Minister. One area that is clearly without rancour is the tourism and hospitality sector and it seems to have worked reasonably well. I am not sure about getting into business because there may be different elements, although it is still a matter of exporting from the island. These matters can be examined in the future.

Deputy Gerry Adams raised a number of relevant issues which we will continue to address in the best way we can. I hope implementation of the Stormont House agreement will make life a little better for those who feel the past has passed them by and are hurt. The institutions now being put in place will, I hope, bring some sense of relief to them. Let us see how the retrieval of information works. When somebody, be they a member of the Finucane family or whoever else, goes to seek information, under the terms of the agreement, all of the information will be provided. That might be important in a number of these cases and I hope the words mean what they say. We will have to monitor it, test it and see that it works properly.

See this speech in context