Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The questions cover a period beginning from around June and the Taoiseach, in his reply, quite rightly covered the period up to this month, for which I thank him. However, there is not enough interaction by the Taoiseach and Government on these issues. I do not necessarily mean with the parties in the North, although that is an important element of the process. I thank the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Sherlock, for their contribution to the ten weeks of talks. I refer instead to the Taoiseach's interaction with the British Prime Minister. It is one area with which we have difficulties because, as the Taoiseach reminded me, he is the co-guarantor of the agreement. The parties in the North have responsibilities and Sinn Féin has never shied away from facing up to them.

As we know, Peter Robinson has resigned, and I wish him and his family well in the time ahead. The winning of the agreement was quite an achievement and even though it was the best that was possible at the time, it has not dealt with all of the issues and has not adequately dealt with some others. I commend Martin McGuinness, our team and others who engaged over the period involved and the months beforehand.

The difference between this and previous agreements - this goes back to the Stormont House Agreement - is that essentially the parties in the North came together. In this case, that involved Sinn Féin and the DUP, which then went to the Governments with proposals, some of which they resisted. Much of the work that was done over the past two or three weeks involved trying to get the Governments on board. That should never be the case in terms of our Government, because it should have a different view from that of the British Government. One would like to think the Irish Government had an ambition or aspiration to be part of a united Ireland and to work with people in the North on a ongoing and daily basis to build harmony, equality and cordiality between everyone who lives on the island. The British Government has a different national interest in terms of all of these issues.

We have ended up with crisis management and the institutions being periodically on the cusp of collapse. Of course, there are times when the institutions have been dysfunctional, but that has been because the Northern state and partition are dysfunctional. Even though it is very frustrating, in particular for those of us who work in the system, it is far better than how things used to be played out on the streets.

If one looks back over the past few weeks, in particular following the killing of Kevin McGuigan and Jock Davison and how that was seized upon by the Ulster Unionist Party, one can consider the response of the leader of Fianna Fáil. He said the institutions should be suspended. What would the outworking of that have been? The Taoiseach called for the institutions to be adjourned and tried to armlock the SDLP into accepting that. What would the consequences of that have been? We have a responsibility to sustain the institutions but they have to deliver.

We do not have a bill of rights or a charter of rights. A charter of rights would include this State, and I know why we do not have one in the North. It is because if we had one, people would have legislative entitlements in terms of all of the rights they are currently being denied. We do not have a civic forum or Acht Na Gaeilge. There is a refusal by the British to deal with legacy issues.

We got €834 million to support vulnerable citizens and Professor Eileen Evason will head a panel to figure out the best way to spend that money. The Government in London is committed to austerity, as is the Irish Government. Therefore, we will have more difficulties on the economic front in the time ahead. We got €877 million in additional funding to help a society which is unique in that it is coming out of conflict. That means we do not have additional domestic water charges or prescription charges. We have a public health service which is free at the point of delivery. That is where Sinn Féin's focus has been.

In terms of legacy issues, will the hooded men have to wait forever? What about the Ballymurphy families, the family of Pat Finucane, the families connected to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, the families of the Miami Showband and Seamus Ludlow's family, who live in my constituency? Numerous other families have been victims of the IRA and other groups.

Does the Taoiseach have proposals to get the British Government to stick to what it committed to in various other agreements, not least the Stormont House agreement, which it then breached by introducing legislation? Its excuse is that national security is involved. What on earth causes issues of national security when some incidents happened 40, 30 or 20 years ago?

I am looking from the Taoiseach for a more proactive interaction with the Prime Minister and a clear and consistent strategic plan. I happen to agree with the Taoiseach on the effects of the British withdrawing from the EU, and we can speak about it at some other point if I am allowed back in. A week or two after we have had this agreement we have other issues, and if they are not dealt with now to be managed in advance, we will have another crisis in the North at some point. The Taoiseach knows what the problems will be. Our responsibility is to be problem solvers and solution finders, and to do this now and not wait until everybody is angsty and in a cranky mood or, God forbid, until people are killed.

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