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

First, on Deputy Haughey's questions, again we have been strong and robust in our exchanges with the UK Government in respect of this legacy Bill. We think it is a wrong thing to do; it has no agreement within Northern Ireland. I met with victims who are extremely angry about it and are very concerned about its implications. I will marry Deputy Haughey's question with that of Deputy Howlin in saying that there has been a degree of unilateralism in the conceiving, and the writing up, of this Bill and its passage through Parliament. In the context of the Good Friday Agreement, unilateralism does not work and is not appropriate to it. We are co-guarantors of the agreement and I have always been concerned during the prime ministership of Boris Johnson about that trend towards unilateralism emerging on a number of fronts. There has been an improvement under the government of Rishi Sunak and far better engagement on these issues. To take the Deputy's point, however, there has not been improvements on the legacy Bill. There have been some amendments but they go nowhere near our red lines. I detect that not everybody within the UK system, if I can put it that way, or in the UK Parliament, is satisfied with this. The Deputy is correct in pointing out that historically, the UK Government had the least to fear from the European Convention on Human Rights. Those in Strasbourg will tell you that the least number of cases are taken against the UK Government.

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