Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like to start off by publicly giving my condolences to the family of Martin McGuinness following his recent passing. I offer my sympathy to them and to Sinn Féin in general.

The collapse of the talks is not really surprising. I do not think anybody in this House or across the country would be too surprised by it. There is an ongoing difficulty within the DUP with regard to its members accepting that they have to compromise and work with Nationalists and Catholics across the North to make the institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement and the raft of other agreements work. The flaw, even if they agreed to do that and were up and working, would be implementing the cuts as have been outlined by Deputy Coppinger.

The ultimate problem with the peace process and the way it is at the moment is the abdication of the Irish Government and the British Government of any role or responsibility with regard to actually making things work. The problem is not about getting the Assembly up and running. The problem is dealing with issues the Assembly does not have the power to deal with. I refer to the responsibility and requirement of the British Government to agree to dealing with the legacy of the past and note that dealing with what has happened in the past is not only a republican or Nationalist or an IRA legacy to deal with. It is a legacy for the British Government, which was never a neutral participant in the war in the Six Counties but was an active participant and implemented a war footing with regard to the direction of loyalist paramilitaries and the actions of the British Army itself in the North. That is the ultimate failure. The Irish Government has to bear a large part of the responsibility for that. The Irish Government, particularly under Fine Gael, has abdicated responsibility, and should be more proactive in pushing the British Government to accept its responsibility and role in the conflict in the North as well.

We do not have to go any further than looking at the situation in Maghaberry Prison, where we see the influence of MI5 and the British security apparatus on the operation of the prison.

Other colleagues and I have visited the prison on many occasions to try to work towards ensuring the implementation of the 2010 agreement that was intended to resolve the difficulties there. Everybody says they are in favour of the implementation of the agreement but when it comes to doing so, the prison authorities stall and drag their heels and they have not carried out what they committed to. The independent reviewers have accepted that the prisoners are willing to participate and support the agreement, which could resolve the issues. However, the NIO continues to influence the operation of the prison and I wonder whether the governor whom I meet when I discuss the implementation of the agreement, or the securocrats in the NIO are running it. It seems to be the latter. Who is held in the CSUs in the prison is totally at their discretion. A number of prisoners have been held for five years or more in them, even though the prisoners in Roe House say they would like them to come and serve their time there. The prisoner authorities have washed their hands of this and it is up to the NIO to deal with it. When I try to make progress with the NIO, its staff stonewall and do not respond. That is an example of the influence of the British state on the Six Counties. It is not positive nor is it conducive to resolving outstanding issues.

The recent election worked out for Sinn Féin. It took a calculated risk in calling the election and collapsing the Assembly but that worked well in closing the gap with the DUP, with the DUP ending up with less than 30 seats in the Assembly which, perversely, probably makes it harder for the party to accept that it must reach an agreement to get the Assembly back up and running again. However, as Deputy Coppinger outlined, if the Assembly was up and running, it would implement a programme of austerity imposed by the British Government on the North. It probably suits that the Assembly is not in session because that programme will be rolled out by direct rule Ministers rather than by locally elected representatives.

There are also ongoing issues in the North regarding the treatment of elected representatives. Paudie McShane, a member of what was called Moyle District Council - I cannot recall what the name of it is now - has been suspended by the Unionist controlled council from participating in it for hosting a meeting with the Palestinian representative of an area the council was formerly twinned with. Initially, when complaints were made about the meeting, the council executive said there was no problem with it, but under pressure from Unionists, an investigation was held and he was suspended for three months. He is challenging that through a judicial review at the moment but that is symptomatic of the Unionist attitude to concessions and working with Nationalists and republicans across the Six Counties.

These are the outstanding issues. The key is it is not important as to whether Stormont gets up and running again. While it might be important from a local administration point of view, the austerity agenda that will be implemented in the coming years will be regressive. The onus is on the Irish Government to make sure the British Government plays its part and accepts its role and responsibility in dealing with legacy issues. It will only be by dealing with those and achieving a united Ireland or a fully functioning system in Stormont that exercises full control over taxation and so on that the type of politics Deputy Coppinger described can be realised in the Six Counties with the elected representatives being able to work for the benefit of all citizens in that society rather than implementing the austerity agenda of the Tory Government. The Government has to focus on pushing the British Government to ensure it lives up to its responsibilities rather than focusing on the narrow agenda of getting the Assembly up and running again.

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