Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I think it is absolutely necessary for the Taoiseach to move beyond articulating an aspiration of recognition of the state of Palestine to actually doing so. He has long-fingered this issue. He says that he will do it in the context of a two-state solution, at a time when that looks very remote; a time of great trouble in the Middle East and particularly in Gaza. It is the will of the Oireachtas to recognise the state of Palestine. Rather than waiting for the solution, I argue that recognising Palestinian statehood is a necessary precondition and ingredient of advancing towards it.

As the Taoiseach says, on Monday he addressed the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit in New York, held in honour of the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela. That is a considerable honour and privilege, and I hope it was a productive engagement. I read the speech in which the Taoiseach quite rightly held up our own peace process as a beacon for building peace and reconciliation. The Good Friday agreement remains a triumph of hope over despair, and it is as relevant today as it was 20 years ago. Of course it is regrettable that 20 years on, the political institutions of the agreement are not functioning. In the context of Brexit, the actions of Tory hardliners, the denial of rights by the DUP and the actions of a British Government that in my view is undermining the agreement, it is absolutely essential that we recommit ourselves to the Good Friday Agreement. Those institutions are what is best for all of us, for our economy, our public services and for building reconciliation. The way forward is not to discard the agreement but to embrace it and to re-establish the Executive and the Northern Ireland Assembly on the basis of equality and respect as was intended.

As the Taoiseach knows we have tried to do that over the last year. We reached an agreement with the DUP leadership to do so in February. They walked away and the thing collapsed. Listening to some of the Taoiseach's Ministers last night, one would be forgiven for thinking that the impasse in the North was entirely to be blamed on Sinn Féin, that we were somehow behind the renewable heat incentive, RHI, scandal or that we were denying fundamental rights to citizens. However, the Taoiseach knows the state of play and his Tánaiste, Deputy Simon Coveney, knows it even better. Yet the Taoiseach's Ministers, Deputies Ring, Doherty and Griffin engage in opportunistic sniping that is patently inaccurate and untrue. The Taoiseach cannot be a statesman and rejoice in the benefits of the peace process one day, and then watch as his Ministers descend into the gutter with comments like those that were made last night.

I think it would be useful for the Taoiseach to discuss this at ministerial level. Perhaps it is the case that the Taoiseach is not actually briefing Cabinet accurately or fully. If that is the case, I ask him to remedy that situation. The only way we will find a viable pathway back to full power-sharing is with the active and fully informed engagement of everybody. Crucially, that includes every member of the Taoiseach's Cabinet.

See this speech in context