Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The straight answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes". I have been open to listening to, discussing and debating with parties in Northern Ireland other than the DUP and Sinn Féin. I will be happy to speak to Green Party representatives in that regard. I speak to the SDLP, the Alliance Party and the Ulster Unionist Party and will continue to do so. We have an obligation to listen to everybody. All the parties, big and small, have a mandate and all of them, including the big two, want devolved government restored at Stormont. The question is how we can create a context that will allow this to happen.

The truth is that we cannot have devolved government if the two largest parties do not agree to work together to make it happen. We want to have a fully inclusive executive that involves all of the parties. Fundamentally, however, this will be very difficult in the absence of efforts by the two largest parties to accommodate each other in terms of a way forward. If it is not possible to do that in the short term, we will have to look at ways in which we can create stability in the medium term, while we try to put a context and structure in place that can ultimately deliver the outcome of devolved government. However, we also need to be careful not to question and undermine the Good Friday Agreement when trying to achieve this outcome because the agreement is the one certainty and foundation that we know works in terms of providing structures within which to work. This is why the Government is so committed to using the structures of the agreement to try to find a way through the current impasse. This is not the first time there has been an impasse in Northern Ireland that has posed significant difficulties. We need to find a way of overcoming the current impasse and I believe it is possible to do so.

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