Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree entirely with the view, as I think everybody in this House does, that we need to have a functioning Executive back in Northern Ireland. We certainly do not need either another round of elections or the imposition of direct rule. We must find a path that avoids those two outcomes. We are all reflecting on the death of Martin McGuinness today. How, in the Taoiseach's view, will that impact on the timeline that is available to the parties in Northern Ireland? Does he think that the timeline should be extended, because there will be a process of genuine grieving involved to which space must be given and that process will impact on a deadline that says things have to be done by next Monday? Has the Taoiseach had those discussions with Secretary of State Brokenshire, whom, I have been informed by Deputy McDonald, has the authority to extend the timeframe without any legislative action other than his own?

I take it the Taoiseach has raised directly with the Prime Minister the Irish Government's views on the specific issues and impasses that there are, such as the Irish language Bill and the Bill of Rights. He has set out the Irish position in regard to that? Will the Taoiseach reiterate that for the House? How is the issue of legacy payments, in terms of costs that will arise post-Brexit for Northern Ireland, to be met? We understand that all these things have been raised by the Irish Government but it is important that the Taoiseach puts them on the record of the House.

My final question is in regard to the need for a special status. We have set out repeatedly in discussions here the unique situation on the island of Ireland. I am very concerned, and the more discussions I have with my European colleagues the more concerned I become, that Ireland will end up as collateral damage of the clear view that is emerging within Europe that the primacy of holding the entity that is the European Union together is so important that all other considerations are lesser, and that, whatever words are being used now, the specific requirements of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the island of Ireland, will be pushed aside in that regard.

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