Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I found the crass opportunism of the Tánaiste, in particular, and Deputy Martin in using these important issues to have a swipe against Sinn Féin utterly pathetic. That said, it is ironic that we are discussing an agreement entitled A Fresh Start when the reality is that what is being dished up is more of the same.

It is obvious that we are all glad there is no longer wholesale violence on the streets of Northern Ireland. In that sense, peace reigns, but the reality is that it is only on the surface. There is no peace for the victims of austerity who are already dealing with years of neoliberal policies, whether they come from Protestant or Catholic working-class communities. There is no peace for those faced with the announcement of hundreds of job losses. The idea that cutting corporation tax and imposing public expenditure cuts will make things better is an absolute joke. In any case, dividing the spoils at the top is not the same as ending sectarianism and injustice from below.

I want to put on the record the very serious issues that are being ignored in Northern society. Earlier this month, HM Prison Maghaberry was described as a prison in crisis and the worst that the Chief Inspector of Prisons had ever seen. He called it Dickensian. Serious mistakes are being made because of the inadequate way in which the problems there are being addressed. We are part of an ad hocgroup, comprising Members of the Oireachtas, which regularly visits the prison. We visit republicans and loyalists - we do not care what they are. While the issues in the two communities are uncannily similar, it is quite clear that there is an overriding problem in terms of a cultural legacy issue in the prison. The staff are still predominantly Protestant. There are very defined links between the Prison Officers' Association and the DUP, which causes problems. It is also clear that there is an undue influence from the British security services and MI5 which operates to destabilise the present. It is a very dangerous shift. A system of control and a potential end to the segregation that exists there would be a retrograde step and is certainly not the way forward.

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