Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to be able to say cúpla focal faoin scéal seo. The people of Northern Ireland are quite bewildered. They went to the polls a couple of weeks ago. I met some of them at the Fleadh Cheoil Thiobraid Árann two weekends ago and they are asking why they got up and voted. They voted for nationalists and the Assembly is not sitting. There is more to this than meets the eye. There is whole clamour around a border poll. I am well known as a republican. My late dad fought in the War of Independence. He spent quite some time in prison and suffered, as many people did. We do not have any monopoly on that.

The statements - even on the night of the election Deputy McDonald said we must have a Border poll – are going faster than we think. We must make haste slowly here because we must bring the people with us. Ní neart go cur le chéile. We had intransigence from the unionist side for long enough. We now have Brexit and it seems it has not registered with some people that Brexit happened. A sovereign people voted to leave the EU. I remember, as leader of our group, attending late-night meetings in Government Buildings with the then Taoiseach, the current Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar. When we asked about the Border we were told there would be no borders. I remember asking about the hard border between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, which I used to pass through regularly. We put our heads in the sand and said this would not happen. The then Taoiseach told me there might be a border in Bali or someplace else. These are the problems.

As the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, knows, there are huge problems with industry and imports and exports. There are huge issues to be dealt with. The latest stalemate or crash-landing may cause damage the Good Friday Agreement. I salute the architects of the agreement, including the late Martin McGuinness, Martin Mansergh, a former colleague of mine, Fr. Alec Reid from Nenagh in Tipperary, and the many others who worked very hard to secure it. The late Dr. Paisley and Martin McGuinness got together. We all have to get together and do it in the spirit of the meitheal and of forgiveness, trust and respect.

My family knew Aidan McAnespie who was killed at Aughnacloy. He worked for one of my brothers-in-law. We cannot just wash away those events or forget the past and throw a thick cloak over it. There needs to be reconciliation but there must be a good deal of counselling, research and respectful engagement with and listening to the people who were involved to get past the impasse and move forward. It is of no one's benefit to have the institutions in Northern Ireland closed down. Above all, the electorate will grow very tired of that very soon. Some Deputies asked why MLAs are getting paid? That is a valid question if they are not going to sit.

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