Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I concur with Deputy Micheál Martin's remarks about Atlas of the Irish Revolution. It is an excellent publication and the kind of book one would like to spend a lot of time with if one could find the time. Perhaps I will spend some time reading it over the Christmas recess. I also concur with him on what he said about the work of former President McAleese and her husband Martin. I very much agree that the absence of an Executive and Assembly is a serious problem.

There is a major deficiency at this time both in providing good government for the people of Northern Ireland and giving it a voice in the Brexit talks. The other institutions, the British-Irish Council and the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference, are working well.

On the future initiative to put the Northern Ireland institutions into place, it really has to be done when the time is right. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and I are of the view that the best time will be after the withdrawal agreement is ratified at Westminster, assuming that it will be. We are also conscious that the local elections are coming up in Northern Ireland in May and the difficulties which may arise from them. We are also aware that the Ardoyne inquiry is ongoing. It is a case of trying to find the right time when the Irish and British Governments can both feel the two major parties are in the space where they might be able to compromise and come to an agreement. The uncertainty surrounding Brexit is a major difficulty, but it is not the only one. The renewable heat incentive, RHI, scheme and the loss of trust between the two parties are other factors, as well as the local elections in May.

It was my second engagement with the Orange Order. I visited the order in Schomberg House several months ago. The second engagement was at Government Buildings and we plan a third but no date has been set for it. In principle, however, I have agreed to visit an Orange Lodge in one of the Border counties to meet some people there. We did discuss the backstop, which is not supported by the Orange Order which has taken the constitutional view that it could potentially treat Northern Ireland differently from Great Britain. Therefore, it is an arrangement it does not like. We had a constructive, honest, good, mature, fact-based and thoughtful exchange on the issue which I found useful and which helped me to understand why the order had a difficulty with it. Perhaps I helped to give it some understanding of why it was necessary. It is one of the matters on which we agreed politely to disagree.

We did discuss commemorations but not the ones to which Deputy Burton referred. The Orange Order was particularly complimentary that the Government had done much work on commemorations related to the First World War. The delegation visited the sculpture “The Haunting Soldier” at St. Stephen’s Green on the day it was being dismantled before it met me. It expressed a genuine recognition and appreciation of the fact that most of us south of the Border were willing to acknowledge that part of our history and recognise the sacrifice of those who had died in the First World War. That has helped at a time of strained relations. The delegation suggested we might consider having a First World War memorial somewhere in central Dublin. Obviously, there is the one at Islandbridge, but there was a suggestion that there be something more central on Merrion Square or at St. Stephen's Green. I agreed to give the suggestion consideration.

On commemorations generally, obviously 2019 will mark the 100th anniversary of the first meeting of the First Dáil and the Democratic Programme. The events are being led very much by the Oireachtas under the leadership of the Ceann Comhairle and others. Deputies are aware that an event will be held in the Mansion House in January which will be followed by the State reception there. It will be an opportunity for us to recall the events of the First Dáil. I had an opportunity to read the transcript of the first meeting of the First Dáil which made for interesting reading. While it was mostly in Irish and in a form that was somewhat different from what we use today, I was able to follow a lot of it. What I found most interesting was that the first meeting only lasted for about two hours. There was an event for the Dublin Fusiliers which had the Mansion House booked for that morning and there was a ceili that evening. The meeting of the Dáil was sandwiched between the two. Of course, the majority of Members were not present for one reason or other, with some being in prison, while others not able to make it. It was interesting to read the transcript. From history, one would think it was different from what it was.

The expert advisory group under Dr. Maurice Manning still exists and advises the Government.

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