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

I fully agree with what Deputy Richmond said in terms of the need for strong continuing dialogue. I am always open to dialogue and conversation on issues pertaining to the future of this island and to all of the questions relating to that. Indeed I have been open to them since the beginning of my political career when I was elected a councillor and Deputy. I do not need Deputy Carthy to lecture me on my interest or engagement in this issue. I think Deputy Richmond's point about the three sets of relationships, namely, the British-Irish, the North-South and the two traditions, is important. They underpin the Good Friday Agreement. We have to fulfil that potential, and in my view it has not been fulfilled to date. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, has had some good and useful meetings in London this week. I spoke to all the leaders of the political parties last week and had good conversations in respect of the issues that arose in the previous week. We are continuing that engagement.

Deputy Gannon made a point on education and early school leaving, and I agree with it 100%. One of the failings since the Good Friday Agreement has been the inability of the Northern Ireland Executive, along with the two Governments, to carry out a major investment programme in school completion to prevent early school leaving in the communities that need investment the most. Maybe at the time it should have been contemplated. That is something I am passionately committed to. There are serious issues in terms of early school leaving, non-school completion and non-progression to further and third level education in conurbations within Northern Ireland. That is a problem. Many representatives of the universities have said this to me and many educationalists have said this to me as well. If we do not address that, we will continue to sow challenges and problems for the future.

I am not aware of the specific incident Deputy Boyd Barrett has raised, but obviously decent jobs a decent economy are key to the North-South relationship. That is part of what the shared island is about. It is to increase connectivity and get good projects flowing. I am not aware of the specifics of the situation pertaining at Dublin Port.

Deputy Ó Murchú made another point and again I can reference the various projects we are pursuing. We have already allocated resources to research projects. We are looking at North-South industrial projects in terms of city deals, commitments to an industrial estate in Derry and parallel development in Letterkenny and Donegal. The idea is that there will be a joint initiative in the region around industrial promotion, creation of jobs and rail connectivity.

I heard what Deputy Carthy said. To be fair, Sinn Féin will be past masters at Seanad deals and are no strangers to them, whereas what happened today was an open democratic election that was transparent from the get-go. We do not need that kind of cynical commentary on what is a properly conducted bona fide election.

The Deputy also referred to creating space for discussion. Let me repeat the point that I have created a lot of space for discussion. The shared Ireland dialogue series is to create space for people to have a discussion without preconditions about how we share this island in future and how we live together in a better way than we have lived in the past. For example, we still have too many peace walls in Northern Ireland. We have to work hard at this.

Deputy Barry commented using the old trope about establishment politicians, whoever they are. We live in a parliamentary democracy. We have an electoral system that elects people by direct franchise. Then the Parliament elects the Government. Often, I think that phrase "the establishment" is a con job and has no real meaning other than to try to brand people and undermine the status of people as if they are some sort of alien group who are against the people. It is a completely false proposition.

I will meet with the victims and families to discuss the actions of Glenanne group. If we can arrange that, I will certainly facilitate it. I have met some in opposition but that would have been in a different context. I am not aware of the specifics in terms of the issue around the gun being handed in to the PSNI. I will finish on a broader point. It is important, given all that has been achieved in respect of policing in Northern Ireland, that we continue to support the PSNI and express confidence in the PSNI and its capacity to police fairly and impartially on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland.

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