Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Good Friday Agreement is the bedrock of peace on this island. It is the lodestone we all go back to repeatedly. However, I think the Tánaiste recognises that is now being undermined by persistent prolonged inaction in terms of a functioning Executive and assembly in Northern Ireland as envisaged under the Good Friday Agreement. There is no accountability in Northern Ireland now for normal services, the bread-and-butter issues we have to deal with in health, education and the environment - we see what is happening in Lough Neagh. All of us are talking to individuals in Northern Ireland and there is a view that, despite all our hopes, the Executive will not function again this side of the next UK general election. That would be unconscionable. What is the Tánaiste's opinion, his take in an honest and open way, on the prospects for the restoration of the Executive and assembly this year?

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