Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Members for their contributions. I acknowledge once again the significant work undertaken by the Cathaoirleach, Deputy O’Dowd, and all members of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in producing this comprehensive and timely report. Through their engagement with political leaders from the British and Irish Governments, Northern Ireland political leaders, civil society, civil servants and advisers, they have pulled together many different threads which contributed to the success of the multi-party negotiations and a sustained peace from which this island has benefited since then. As the report makes clear, a multitude of different factors coalesced to create the conditions that allowed the Good Friday Agreement to be signed on 10 April 1998 including a partnership approach between the UK and Ireland, the engagement of the US and other international partners and the political courage of those involved in the negotiations. However, as Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, I want to put particular focus on the significant role played by the EU both at the time the agreement was signed and in subsequent decades. As the report makes clear, the EU played an important part in helping the seeds of peace take root in Northern Ireland, not least by providing a shared space where the British and Irish politicians and officials could work on practical issues of common importance. This allowed relationships to develop in a different context, paving the way for the co-operation that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement. EU membership also helped to facilitate cross-Border trade and development of a closely integrated all Ireland economy, which has benefited communities North and South and has strengthened prosperity across the island.

To this day the EU continues to support peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland through the promotion of social and economic progress. This includes funding provided through PEACEPLUS and, most recently, through the agreement reached on the Windsor Framework which will bring stability, predictability and new economic opportunities to Northern Ireland. However, Northern Ireland cannot maximise these opportunities without a functioning power-sharing institution. It is clear both from the report and our discussions here today that the absence of a functioning Assembly and Executive is having a significant detrimental impact on people’s daily lives. The difficulties facing Northern Ireland in budgetary terms, as well as key sectors including health and education, require local leadership. It is essential that politicians elected last May and the Assembly are allowed to take their seats in order that they can make decisions which respond to these challenges.

The architects of the Good Friday Agreement displayed political courage. They rejected the politics of fear and division and took difficult but necessary decisions needed to construct a better future for Northern Ireland. As we celebrate all that their leadership made possible, it is important that we acknowledge where we have fallen short and redouble our collective efforts to achieve the vision set out in the agreement. Putting in place an agreed framework on dealing with the legacy of the past has been one of the most challenging aspects of the peace process yet without a collective agreed framework which has the support of victims, survivors and their families for dealing with the past, genuine reconciliation may remain elusive. Many of those interviewed by the committee for its report expressed grave concern about the British Government’s Bill that is currently making its way through the House of Lords. The Government shares these concerns and the Taoiseach and Tánaiste raised it with their British counterparts and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at every opportunity.

Twenty-five years ago, the Good Friday Agreement made a new and better future possible. Since that time, we have strived to achieve the vision although this is sometimes imperfect. As we celebrate a quarter of a century of agreement, we should recognise how much has been achieved, renew our commitment to building a new beginning and agreement that it represents and to take the next steps with confidence and determination to act with today’s challenges and to achieve the full reconciliation that the Good Friday Agreement makes possible.

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