Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am very disappointed at the fact that Sinn Féin in particular appears to have called for another election. Does the Minister see any value in another election other than that there would be a certain amount of head counting? I believe that the issues which are outstanding are capable of resolution. This Friday we will attend the anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. Most commentators are saying that there appears to be relatively little energy or appetite on the part of either of the two major parties, the Democratic Unionist Party but particularly Sinn Féin, to make the institutions work, a rather fatalistic approach that it is okay to return to direct rule but that the preference is for further elections. I have no real idea other than head counting what another election might produce. Has the Minister spoken to each of the parties about that? Does he have a sense of what they believe a further election might achieve? Talking to ordinary people from the North who are not particularly political I found that they are completely confused. When we see how life has transformed in the North in terms of peace and security, historically, it seems to be an enormous mistake to run the risk of losing all the progress that has been made.

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