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

On the shared island dialogue, in particular the All-Island Women's Forum civic initiative, Deputy Gould made a point about the potential of research and shared data on domestic and gender-based violence in particular. We will pursue that. We have the capacity to do it working with the various groups North and South and the agencies that are in a position to collect the data and do the research. I will follow up on that. The recommendations put forward by the forum include the development of an all-island approach to ending gender-based violence. We would be interested in doing that and following up on it. Deputy Gould might be interested to know that next month the Minister for Justice is convening a shared island dialogue on tackling gender-based violence and abuse. That would be a very useful dialogue and engagement to bring this issue further forward. I would see merit in research that would look generally at the issue, but also at wider issues such as the under-representation of women on the island more generally. I have asked the shared island unit in my Department to consider that and to work in consultation with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and the relevant Northern Ireland Executive departments.

On the further recommendations on the civic forums and their establishment, which was provided for under the Good Friday Agreement, the parties did not develop or show great enthusiasm for the civic forums, which was a mistake. We would support the recommendation from the women’s forum. There is potential for synergy in the development of a media partnership between broadcasters to amplify women’s voices, on gender quotas for assembly elections and local elections, and on a wider range of issues that overlap with those of the recommendations of the Citizen's Assembly on Gender Equality and the Oireachtas committee.

I agree with Deputy Durkan that there is tremendous potential here to concentrate on what we can do together as opposed to that which divides us. The whole ethos has been without prejudice to the constitutional position of people, that we plough ahead and make progress on a range of issues such as climate, biodiversity restoration, economic development, education and so on. The Deputy's points are well made.

Deputy Barry raised a more specific question. I will check that out in terms of the research by the Manchester Metropolitan University. I will ask the Minister for Health where that is. I do not see why it would not be published. I understand the UK Government has now come forward with the legislation in respect of termination of pregnancy services in Northern Ireland. There were issues on the ground in terms of getting that through the assembly when it was up and running prior to the last election, just as there was with the Irish language Act, so Westminster is facilitating the passage of both issues, which have been deadlocked for some time. That remains the position. There is a timeline for the review of the legislation on the termination of pregnancy in the Republic. The review is under way, and it is informed by the research the Deputy referenced. I hope the Minister will be in a position to bring recommendations from the review and to publish it in due course.

I concur with Deputy Bacik’s very strong tribute to May Blood and the contribution she made to reconciliation, integration and the promotion of a progressive perspective on the future of Northern Ireland and politics within the island, and to the Labour Party within Northern Ireland, which lost a lot of support over time. One of my first engagements in the North was when I was a young student. I went to the Shankill area to meet Alf Midgley, who was a social worker in the area. His father was a Labour Party MP, Harry Midgley. I got a very strong sense of his commitment to the working people of that area. The Labour Party has an honourable tradition within Northern Ireland. Because of the polarisation and the sectarianism and the degree to which the electoral system always gravitated towards getting people back into trenches, so to speak, it has never allowed for that type of what we might call normal politics to emerge. There are issues there that must be considered in the future. The elections we have had should be vindicated. We cannot mess around with that. We should allow the full validity and integrity of those elections to be followed in terms of the restoration of the Executive and the assembly and then, in the fullness of time, in five years’ time, when there is to be a future election, we would have a different system. There is time to review that. It is a necessity. I think it was Deputy Boyd Barrett or Deputy Paul Murphy who raised the question on the way the electoral system currently works. It could be argued that it is polarising and does not allow for the multiplicity of views to come through. Right now, the results of the election must be validated. By that I mean the Executive should be restored, and the First Minister and the deputy First Minister should be as per the election results.

On the film industry, that is an issue I will raise with the Minister, Deputy Martin. It is open to Deputy Boyd Barrett and others to make a submission to the shared island unit in respect of that, although it is more of an industrial relations issue. Broadly speaking, we want to create parity and we want to learn from the experiences North and South, and if the situation is better in the North, then we in the Republic can learn from that in respect of the film industry. We are open to improving our situation in the Republic.

In response to Deputy Bacik’s point on education, I have been passionate about school completion. It is one of the key weaknesses in certain areas within the North. We are very anxious to engage with a Northern Ireland Executive, following on from the ESRI research on school completion in the Republic and in the North on whether lessons can be learned. We would be willing to use the shared island fund to underpin initiatives to help school completion outcomes in the North.

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