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

The Deputy was surmising through the electoral commission but he cannot make a declaration that the election will take place on 15 December. That may have been unintentional on his part but it might give the wrong impression to people.

Deputy Brendan Smith made an important point and he was correct. All parties still believe in access to the Single Market, which is an important point. No one is saying to me that we want to get rid of or end access to the Single Market, because access to it is working for manufacturing, the food industry and other sectors in Northern Ireland. In terms of consumer-facing goods, goods coming from the UK into supermarkets and not going anywhere else, there are issues that the European Commission is anxious to resolve with the British Government. Technical talks have begun and we should let those talks take their course.

Deputy Bacik again raised the issue of the election, which I have answered in the sense that this is all done by agreement. It was intended to prevent the stop-start nature of the Executive, because too often it was being pulled down. There was a period when Sinn Féin left for two or three years due to the heating issue. Going way back to my time as Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Executive was down for a year. We had discussions on devolution of justice and we were told that this would never happen again. The new agreement included mechanisms that would deter this and, lo and behold, we are back to where we were. All political parties should have a long-term commitment to the institutions, irrespective of what happens, to get issues resolved around the table. That is what should happen.

Deputy Barry raised the issue of Royal Mail workers. I understand where he is coming from in his support of workers, but to compare the situation in Ireland with Tory policy-making makes no sense. We have a national transport system. Our railways are nationalised. If one were to try to nationalise British rail, it would be considered far left.

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