Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom mo chomhbhrón a dhéanamh le pobal Bhagdad agus go háirithe le na daoine a bhfuair bás de bharr an phléascáin mhóir ansin. I extend, on my own behalf and on behalf of Sinn Féin, condolences and solidarity to the families of the 200 people killed in a bomb explosion in Baghdad.

The Brexit vote, as the Taoiseach has acknowledged, is probably the most serious political and economic crisis to face this island in many years. The decision is bad for the island of Ireland, North and south. Yesterday, two ministers for health - the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, and the Northern health minister, Michelle O'Neill - jointly announced a £42 million investment in an all-Ireland children's heart service at the opening of a new cardiac unit in Dublin. It is good for Ireland, North and south. Cuirim fáilte go mórmhór roimh an fhorbairt seo.

There is a real risk in the time ahead that the Brexit result will have an impact on these areas of co-operation between the two parts of our island. It also represents a significant threat to the underlying principles and infrastructure of the Good Friday Agreement. Last week, I wrote to the Taoiseach, the First Minister, Arlene Foster, and other political leaders, including the leader of Fianna Fáil. The only one who answered me was the leader of the Labour Party. I proposed that the Government work with the Executive and all parties on the island to establish a national forum. I heard Ministers over the weekend expounding this as a good idea. The objective, which I outlined in the letter, would be to discuss how the Remain vote of the clear majority of the citizens of the North will be respected and defended. It could also help shape the collective challenges and our responses to these challenges as we face into the consequences that will arise. The DUP's rejection of this idea should not be allowed to stand in the way of the establishment of such a body. The Remain vote, like the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement, uniquely brought together in the North unionists, nationalists, republicans and others in common cause. There will be enormous goodwill for a forum that seeks to defend the North's vote and to protect the peace process, the Good Friday Agreement, its institutions and the two economies on this island. The Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, said yesterday, and I have no doubt, that representatives of civic Unionism and civil society in general will attend along with representatives from our agricultural sector, including agrifood, and the business, community and voluntary sector and many others who are very concerned about what faces us in the time ahead. I spent the weekend in Belfast.

Does the Taoiseach agree that there is a responsibility on all of us who are worried by Brexit to work together in the time ahead? The Government is an equal co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement. Will the Taoiseach acknowledge the particular onus on the Irish Government to defend that agreement and its institutions? Will he establish this forum, similar in format to the New Ireland Forum and the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, with the clear objective that I pointed out? Will he tell us now when he will bring this forum together?

When the Taoiseach gets a chance, will he answer my letter?

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