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

I thank Deputy Richmond for tabling this question in the first instance. I accept the points he made. He has retained a very consistent and constructive interest in this issue for quite some time. He mentioned the importance of meeting with the British Prime Minister and the necessity for ongoing open exchanges between the British Prime Minister and myself. Such exchanges will continue in the context of the realisation of the Good Friday Agreement agenda, the spirit of that agenda and the legal obligations associated with it. In that context, any pulling back from obligations under the Good Friday Agreement in respect of the North-South Ministerial Council or sectoral meetings is not acceptable and is very regrettable. A number of such meetings have now been cancelled due to non-attendance, the most recent being a meeting with regard to agriculture. That is not conducive to the full realisation and operation of the agreement.

I am conscious of the correspondence of the four former Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland. This is important because of their experience and their insights into how the British Government should approach these issues. I briefly met with the current Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis, this morning in advance of his substantive meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, this afternoon, during which a range of issues will be discussed.

I take the Deputy's point with regard to the importance of the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference, an important institution of the Good Friday Agreement. It brings together the Irish and British Governments under strand 3 of the agreement on matters of mutual interest which lie within the competence of both Governments. The continuing importance we place on this institution is reflected in the programme for Government. We believe it is important that the next meeting of the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference, BIIGC, takes place at an early stage, as circumstances allow. We are currently engaging with the Government of the United Kingdom through the secretariat of the BIIGC to set a date and agenda. The most recent meeting of the BIIGC took place at the Cabinet Office in London on 8 May 2019. At that stage, the conference discussed east-west matters, economic and security co-operation, legacy rights, citizenship matters and political stability.

We are, of course, continuing to engage bilaterally with the British Government on a range of key issues. As I have said, such engagement is continuing today. Crucially, we continue to engage in support of the power-sharing institutions in Northern Ireland. As the Deputy will know, since the restoration of the Assembly and the Executive, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, has been in regular contact with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, on a range of matters including Covid, the implementation of the New Decade, New Approach agreement which was referenced by Deputy McDonald, Brexit and issues pertaining to the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. There is also regular contact and co-operation between our two governments at official level. We have to work closely on North-South and east-west agendas in support of the power-sharing institutions and, in the context of what Deputy McDonald said, the fulfilment of what has already been agreed with regard to a range of issues.

With regard to the Irish language Act, is Acht tábhachtach é gan dabht. Tá dualgas ar gach éinne an tAcht a chur i bhfeidhm agus tacaíocht a thabhairt dó, mar a luaigh an Teachta Tóibín. Níl aon dhainséar leis. Léiríonn sé an meas atá ag gach éinne ar an teanga agus tábhacht na teanga i ngnáthshaol agus i gcultúr daoine mórthimpeall an Tuaiscirt agus ar fud an oileáin ar fad. The Irish language Act is important legislation that respects and reflects the principle of parity of esteem that is embedded in the Good Friday Agreement. That idea of cultural and linguistic parity of esteem is very important. The initiatives in Wales with regard to language give context to the importance of the language Act. It has been committed to on all sides and should be followed through on. Language should never be weaponised politically. That can undermine a language. Fundamentally, it sheds light on a culture and creates opportunity for creativity and enjoyment. That is what a language is all about. I would like to see the Irish language Act enacted by the Assembly and brought forward. I would also like to see the commitments in the New Decade, New Approach agreement followed through on. The spirit and letter of the Good Friday Agreement should be preserved.

I could not agree more with Deputy Boyd Barrett's points on the need to deal with sectarianism. We need more substantive work with regard to disadvantaged communities in Northern Ireland, particularly with regard to encouraging those young people in disadvantaged communities who might leave school early to complete the second level cycle of education. They should be enabled and empowered to progress to further and higher education. That is a critical policy area that needs far more attention from the Executive, the Assembly and the British and Irish Governments collectively. They must do something fundamental to give people a brighter future, particularly those young people who do not have that future at the moment. This relates to access to work or further education and to people's capacity to complete the second level cycle. That is critical.

With regard to the state of our national health service, in the context of this pandemic, we should acknowledge that, relatively speaking, our health service has stood up well in terms of both the quality of its personnel and the planning and work the HSE carried out. We love to knock and criticise but at times we seem very slow to acknowledge that the Irish healthcare service responded in a very positive, robust and resilient way at different stages of the pandemic while under a lot of pressure. We need to build on that. We need to learn lessons from the pandemic and embed the reforms that have been introduced during the pandemic. This Government has put unprecedented investment into health through the winter initiative, which led to those reforms. We need to embed these into the future of the health service.

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