Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Taoiseach knows, it is my view that the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Executive should never have collapsed in the first instance. I believe that it was an engineered decision for electoral purposes. The result is that Northern Ireland now lacks a coherent voice, especially on Brexit, which is the single, greatest, once in a generation challenge to the island of Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement and the institutions of the Agreement, particularly the North-South Ministerial Council, could have been very useful mechanisms in facilitating a proper coherent response by Northern Ireland and Ireland to the challenges of Brexit.

I ask that the Taoiseach reports on the progress of the talks.

Yesterday, I believe, Sinn Féin started demanding an election if there is no agreement by Friday. For its part, the DUP appears still to be refusing to give an unambiguous commitment to implementing past agreements. The other parties have been pushed to the margins by the two largest parties. This is a trend we have seen happening time and time again.

It is clear to me that the policy of disengagement from the process that was developed over the last six years by the two Governments has to end as it simply does not work. It has failed miserably. Time and again, the DUP and Sinn Féin have proven that they cannot just be left to get on with it. Each party is blaming the other for not moving forward. While Sinn Féin will argue that it has done nothing wrong in government, the smaller parties find that very difficult to comprehend, given that they were excluded from receiving even basic information when they were in the Executive. That was one of the reasons they left. The current negotiating dynamic does not appear to be working. I ask the Taoiseach to indicate whether he has spoken to Prime Minister May about this and if he and the Prime Minister have agreed to hold any further meetings specifically to discuss the impasse in these talks.

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