Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. Once again, we are debating Northern Ireland issues, legacy issues and the need to implement the protocol and to deal with outstanding issues relevant to it. It is most disappointing that the institutions established by the Good Friday Agreement are not in place or working on behalf of the people at present. In recent days, we celebrated the 24th anniversary of the referendums North and South, where 94% of the electorate in this State and 71.1% of the electorate in Northern Ireland voted to accept and adopt the Good Friday Agreement. That is the mandate that all of us have, as politicians in the North and South of this country. We should be implementing that mandate and working the institutions that were established by the Good Friday Agreement.

We should take the opportunity to pay tribute to the Government leaders such as Mr. Blair and Mr. Ahern, as leaders of their respective Governments, and the political parties in Northern Ireland who contributed to and brought about the agreement that won the support of the international community. As we know, the Irish and British Governments are co-guarantors of the agreement which is an international agreement lodged in the United Nations.

It is just not sustainable or acceptable that the people of Northern Ireland elected their representatives to an assembly that is not meeting and cannot function. What the Democratic Unionist Party has done is anti-democratic in every respect. The assembly and the people selected by the electorate should be there working on behalf of their constituents and in the best interests of all. It is most disappointing we have the Good Friday Agreement and its institutions not operating at present. The British Government has to bear responsibility in that respect as well.

We can talk about what is not working in Northern Ireland or for the benefit of all of this island, which are the institutions established by the Good Friday Agreement such as the assembly, the Executive and the North-South Ministerial Council. Thankfully, however, in the meantime we all continue to enjoy the benefits of the Good Friday Agreement in this country. We often ignore the powerful development of the all-Ireland economy that has evolved since the signing and endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement 24 years ago.

As a representative of two of the southern Ulster counties, I see the great growth in cross-Border trade. I see businesses that may only have been located in our jurisdiction now having good, profitable enterprises north of the Border. Similarly, businesses that only had a presence in Northern Ireland have a presence in our State now. That happens daily. That would not have happened if not for the Good Friday Agreement. There are deficits, with the institutions not working at the moment, but we should remind ourselves we have the benefits of what has come from the Good Friday Agreement and the new political dispensation of which all of us in this country are beneficiaries.

With regard to the protocol, when any of us who represent Border counties interact with businesses north of the Border, due to the likelihood of them having a presence in our State, they say they want any obstacles to trade removed and for the protocol to be dealt with. They also see the benefits from the protocol, with equal access for businesses to the British market and the European Single Market of 450 million people. A message has to go constantly to the British Government that the European Union wants a practical solution to the implementation of the protocol. Those issues can be worked through by negotiation, not by any government taking unilateral action. The Taoiseach has been clear when answering questions in this House that the EU will be flexible when dealing with issues that are of concern to businesses, individuals or communities in Northern Ireland. It is important the protocol is dealt with as soon as possible.

I refer again to the legacy issues. A week ago on Talbot Street in Dublin, we marked the awful tragedies of 17 May 1974, 48 years ago, when 33 innocent people were killed and hundreds were injured and maimed for life, in some cases, in Monaghan and Dublin. It is deplorable that the British Government has not responded to the unanimous requests of the Houses of the Oireachtas from 2008, 2011 and 2016, asking for an independent, eminent legal person to be given access to all papers and files pertaining to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. It is reprehensible there has not been a response by the British Government.

The same goes for other terrible atrocities. I have often spoken in this House about the murder of two innocent young teenagers in Belturbet on 27 December 1972, when Geraldine O'Reilly and Patrick Stanley lost their lives to a bomb that was brought across the Border from County Fermanagh. Almost two years ago, I put on the record of this House information that had come to me through research at the University of Nottingham which disclosed, through British state papers and archives, that there was collusion in that bomb being brought across the Border from County Fermanagh to County Cavan on that night. It was a fatal night, with the deaths of two young innocent teenagers and injuries being caused to many other people. Families have grieved for decades and that grief goes on to the next generation. The least they deserve is the truth about who carried out those atrocities and murders. Sadly, the chances of having a prosecution are limited, which I fully recognise. People have campaigned with dignity and grace about murders and tragedies that beset their families. All they would say to us is we need to get the truth. They are not seeking revenge or vengeance. These issues need to be dealt with.

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