Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to have an opportunity to speak on this important subject, although I do not know whether the short duration allocated for the interventions is appropriate in light of its importance. We should have a much longer debate to allow us to go into the nuances of the agreement, what it was intended to do, what it has done and what remains to be done.

I am not going to get into the area of blaming anybody for what some see as a becalming of the Good Friday Agreement. It was said to be a work in progress when the signatories all sat down and signed it, and so it was. Mind you, that work in progress continued under the aegis of all the signatories in this country, in particular, and those from outside it, and support was always there. As was noted in the speeches of President Biden, Tony Blair and all others involved in its recent marking, the agreement still has to be worked on and progressed, so the question remains as to how we should progress it.

We may have missed a few opportunities. We need to change our attitude, look at matters again and support people of all persuasions across this island in any effort that can be made to bring them closer together.

There is a suggestion that it is premature to talk about a united Ireland because you cannot unite an island; you have to unite the people on the island. The people on the island will always react to whatever surrounds them, motivates them and sometimes threatens them. The question of a Border poll was raised at an early stage. It was unfortunate. It was a mistake. It had the effect of driving the possibility of a continued peace process further and further away. For now, we need to look at it in the current context. We need to reassure those on all sides, North and South, that there is a much more to be gained by bringing them closer and closer together, allowing and encouraging them to work together and ensuring that we can intervene positively in every way possible in order to ensure that the agreement progresses. We need to do this with a new urgency and alacrity. It will prove itself quickly. For example, only a few years ago when there was curiosity on the part of all sides in Northern Ireland as to what would happen in certain situations, an opinion poll taking in the views of the people of this island was published. That poll was conducted in 2016, the centenary of the 1916 Rising. People were asked if they would contribute more in their taxes in the event of a united Ireland. Some 62.5% of those polled said they would not. That was not a positive result. It was not helpful. We need to convince people here that there are huge benefits to be gained from the two economies coming together and the people coming together and working together.

I compliment the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach and previous taoisigh on all the work they have done. They know full well the need to keep the pressure on to ensure that we progress.

I would warn against changing the focus. I refer to the fact that it was the Good Friday Agreement, then it became the Belfast Agreement and now we have the Windsor Framework. In any negotiation, when the name changes, the focus changes and, as a result, things that we want to happen do not necessarily happen.

See this speech in context