Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. I start by joining with Deputy Conway-Walsh in her remarks commending the work of Noeline Blackwell who is retiring shortly from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. She is somebody I have worked with in various different formats. She is a very pleasant person but is also somebody who has really made a big difference for the better in Irish life. I congratulate her on her retirement. She is, as Deputy Conway-Walsh said, a true human rights advocate, and I hope she will be open to a future role with us in advancing human rights further and equality in the State.

In terms of the domestic violence leave, this is a new form of paid leave. It is progress that we are introducing it. I do not know what the story is with the regulations but I will check with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, and will come back to the Deputy about that as soon as I can.

Deputy Smith reminded us earlier of the role of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition, NIWC. I agree with the Deputy that it made a real and undervalued contribution to securing the Good Friday Agreement. I had a chance to meet Monica McWilliams not too long ago and I expressed in some of my contributions how I often wondered how the Northern Ireland Assembly might have evolved had the electoral system been different and had it allowed the NIWC to continue to be represented. The more that centre ground grows, the better, in my view. In many ways, it is a pity the NIWC is not present any more but the contribution it made was really valuable.

We have a lot of co-operation when it comes to healthcare North-South, whether it is children from the North coming to Crumlin hospital for heart surgery or patients from Donegal going to the Altnagelvin hospital for cancer treatment or for treatment of heart attacks, for example. The abortion laws in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are different. We are different jurisdictions. We decide what the laws are here in the Oireachtas. Stormont, when it is working, decides what the laws are in Northern Ireland; when it is not, decisions are unfortunately made in London.

On financial commitments, the Government is committed to making a financial contribution to the building of the A5. It is a very dangerous road. I support the campaign to have it built; I always have. It will not just benefit people in Tyrone and Derry. It will also benefit people in Donegal, and indeed Monaghan, and that should never be forgotten. I was at meetings as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, with the then Minister, Danny Kennedy and then Minister Sammy Wilson, to agree our financial contribution. Had I believed that ten years later it would not be through planning permission I would have said it could not be true. Unfortunately, it is true but I really hope it gets planning consent now and of course the Irish Government would be happy to contribute to it and strongly supports the campaign in Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry to get that project under way.

I have given the view in other debates that the shared island fund is there to help. We have made contributions to different projects in the past and we are happy to have a conversation with the British Government and the Northern Ireland parties about how we can contribute to projects north of the Border in the future. That should not be done here in the Chamber; it is a conversation that needs to happen government to government and with the five parties. I point out to the Deputy that there are reasons why this State, this jurisdiction, is in a position to fund something like the shared island unit or provide more than €1 billion in overseas development aid to other parts of the world to make our contribution to the European Union. That is because of the economic policies we have pursued down through the years such as being pro-trade, pro-business, and a part of the European Union. If we pursued different policies such as those advocated by People Before Profit, far from being in a position to fund projects in other jurisdictions-----

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