Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of my party, I congratulate our two MLAs, Stephen Agnew and Clare Bailey, on their election to a much reduced Assembly. Holding two seats was a hugely significant and important victory for the Green Party on this island and it sends a message of hope that there is a non-sectarian view of the future which is about Ireland going green and all the benefits that would bring for employment, better quality of life and better local environment. I commend my colleagues in the North on their achievement in being elected and I wish them the best of luck in meetings of the Assembly.

We are concerned that the formation of the Assembly is not in train and a third election within a year is a possibility. I said at our party convention last weekend that I find it hard to believe that would be the outcome of this process. How could people knock on the door and say, "We are back again"? Who is to say they would not be back two weeks later during a fourth election campaign? Surely we can all manage not to discredit the political system and heed the mandate given by the electorate, and work together to make sure devolved government works through the Assembly. No one wants direct rule, and certainly not from what I have heard in the House.

To make that happen, and I rely on my colleagues in the North to hear about what is happening, one of the difficulties is there has not been engagement for a long time by the Secretary of State and others. No one is pulling everyone together to make talks work. A role could be played by an external interlocutor who could co-ordinate the talks between different parties. Parties are talking to each other and it is not just about Sinn Féin and the DUP. There are other parties in the Assembly. Everyone is engaged in bilateral talks but no one is pulling them together into a co-ordinated process. We believe there is a case for an international figure, similar to Mr. Haass in the past, to help co-ordinate those efforts. This first person who comes to mind is Joschka Fischer, the former German Foreign Affairs Minister, who is a Green Party statesman. If a statesman or woman of such calibre could be found quickly, it might help the process because the absence of someone to pull it together is part of the problem.

There are a number of difficult issues, including legacy issues and the language Act and what that should include. They are issues of substance and are not just symbolic but they have become the battleground for a wider problem, which is a lack of trust and a lack of willingness to co-operate and work together with all sides. We hope the parties involved in the process, including our own, can break the deadlock and avoid direct rule or another election, neither of which is an option that would serve the people in the North or in the South well, given we also have an interest in this.

The Green Party has called for a long time for a long-term measure that makes sense. The Constitutional Convention here has been very successful in involving citizens. The Green Party wonders whether some of the issues in the North might best be handled within a similar forum. Arlene Foster says there will not be a language Act under her watch, but rather than her having ownership of that or having, in a sense, a veto, surely such issues might be considered within a structure similar to the Constitutional Convention where they could be under the citizens' watch.

We should broaden out the ownership rather than it being a political football that ends up having huge significance beyond the immediate issue. It will not be easy but such a convention should also start looking at the wider structural issues as set out in the Good Friday Agreement. It was agreed by referendum, which in a sense belongs to citizens, so it is not purely party political. It is right and valid to suggest that a constitutional convention would look at the broad structures. In the current situation, if there is complete deadlock between Sinn Féin and the DUP, is there is an opportunity for the Green Party, the SDLP, the Alliance Party, the UUP or whatever different combination of parties to come together to form an alternative administration? The answer is "No" because 20 years on from that historic agreement, we have to be locked into a Nationalist-Unionist divide. Can we not start being a bit more flexible? Are there other options? Does the First Minister have to be from one community and the Deputy First Minister from the other? Is it set in stone for ever? Will we be like that in 50 years' time? It probably will not be because we will all have to reconsider everything as a result of Brexit.

We, as a party, have committed to starting our own process of considering relationships on the island given the reality of Brexit and what it is about to bring inan hour's time. We are looking at all options. The political system in the North should also be looking at options. It should acknowledge that perhaps the citizens have moved on slightly and are not completely fixated on how the structure of divide is maintained within the Northern Assembly. Whatever the case, we will work with all parties. We will work with respect on both sides of that Unionist-Nationalist divide. We operate on both sides of the divide. I look forward to our two representatives doing whatever they can. At present, there is no one to pull the parties together in an effective way. The first thing we could do is try to pull someone in to fulfil that role. It is something we need to do with some urgency. We cannot wait. It has to be weeks rather than months so we should be quick in whatever we do.

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