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

It is 764 days since Sinn Féin collapsed the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly because of a heating scheme. While the inquiry into that scheme showed that Sinn Féin was more deeply involved than it admits, to the extent that its Minister of Finance took instructions from a secretive internal party structure, many other reasons are now being cited for the refusal to re-establish the democratic government of Northern Ireland. The DUP is clearly wrong and in breach of its responsibilities in its opposition to important equality measures, but there is no indication that the sheer gravity of the Brexit threat is getting through to those involved in the talks. It is quite extraordinary that, at a moment of great peril for Northern Ireland, it has been without a functioning Executive and Assembly for over 760 days.

Most people of goodwill will have seen the latest discussions and reacted with despair. Can the Taoiseach tell us exactly what is being done to try to break this cycle of failing talks? When we talk to the parties the only issue we hear about is the assigning of blame. Is it still the policy that nothing will happen until after the Brexit issue is resolved? The Taoiseach will be aware of the extremely bad signal which last week's decision to delay a major project in the North due to the re-profiling, to use his phrase, of Government expenditure. There are shades of Narrow Water bridge debacle in this. At a moment when we should be speeding up cross-Border projects, which have broad support, we are actually delaying them. Who in Northern Ireland did the Taoiseach inform of this proposed delay before it was announced?

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