Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What happened 25 years ago when the Good Friday Agreement brought all sides together to work out a better future was a landmark for this island. I certainly was much younger then but, like many others, I was running around at the time trying to convince people of the merits of the agreement and explain what it was about. I also tried to explain how we could advance the possibility of a better Ireland - an Ireland in which people would no longer have to die, in which nobody would be in jail anymore, in which we would have a better future and in which we could work out our differences in a peaceful way. By and large, much of that has happened. We must recognise the achievements of the agreement and that we had major advances across the island. However, there still is a great deal of work to do. There are still many differences and difficulties to overcome. The central issue is that we have to try to get people to understand that we need dialogue, discussion and argument - and sometimes fraught argument - that we need to have. We do not argue for the sake of getting one up on each other; we do so to make progress. That is what we have to do.

The Tánaiste is here. I commend the Government on the work it is doing. The former Taoiseach, the late Albert Reynolds, was mentioned earlier. Mr. Reynolds did significant work in respect of this matter, as did former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, and many others who were in the House at the time. People on the republican side, former Deputy Gerry Adams and the former Deputy First Minister, the late Martin McGuinness, led a movement that had for so long fought a battle against the British occupation of Ireland to a new way forward. What they achieved in that regard is often overlooked. I was present and saw how they had to convince people that there was a better way forward. They did that, and they won the arguments. They did so because they said they had an international agreement that stood up to scrutiny, that was backed by the European Union the US and that both Governments had signed up to. They also stated that they had the weight of the world behind them in the context of creating a better way forward. The agreement has become a template for those in conflict zones around the world to look at in the context of finding a way forward.

The peace that has, by and large, marked the past 25 years is something we can rejoice in. However, there is a certain amount of unfinished work. We still have to try and get a sense of togetherness, reconciliation and recognition that the past is the past but that we have to live with the consequences of it. This means that we have to come out openly and work out a better future. We can do that.

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