Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is great. I could talk all day about this subject, so I am fine. My colleagues are not here. The first thing I want to do is congratulate Michelle O'Neill and acknowledge how historic it was to have my own colleague become a republican First Minister. I wish her and Emma Little-Pengelly, both of their teams and the other MLAs the best of luck in the really hard work that they have to do in the months ahead. We are acutely conscious of the deficit that has to be made up. It was rightly referred to as Tory austerity. The first battle they have is trying to get sufficient funding to be able to provide what needs to be provided for every citizen, regardless of his or her religion or constitutional preference, across the Six Counties.

I will talk about the Irish and British Governments being guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. There is a space in that regard. In reflecting on what has happened in recent years, both Governments have been negligent in their roles as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement because they have stood back from it. I appeal to them both to take the responsibility of those roles very seriously in terms of the outstanding elements in that agreement, and subsequent agreements, which need to be addressed. That should start with the proposed bill of rights. It is absolutely imperative that the bill of rights and an all-Ireland charter of rights be put in place in the North and throughout the country. That is the way everyone will be protected and everyone's rights will be protected. It was provided for in the Good Friday Agreement.

I also raise the matter of the Stormont House Agreement Bill. The unilateral action of the British Government in pushing through the enactment of that Bill, against the will of all the political parties on this island, is absolutely appalling on so many different levels. We must collectively stop the British Government from this unilateral behaviour, which leads to the breaking of international legally binding agreements. The message that is giving to the world is that it is okay to make legally binding agreements and then turn your back and walk away from them. That must never happen again. As Deputy O'Dowd said, we met Hilary Benn earlier. One of the issues we brought up with him was Keir Starmer's commitment to repeal the legacy Bill, which needs to be done.

We need to tackle many issues on an all-island basis, including climate change, decarbonisation, energy security, food security, and human capital and labour supply throughout the island. It is imperative that the North-South institutions, such as the North-South Ministerial Council, get up and running as quickly as possible and that they really work for people across the island. I also ask that education be brought into the North-South Ministerial Council.

I also raise what is said every day in the Chamber about being prepared and having to learn from Brexit in respect of a referendum on Irish unity. Despite that, the Government will not do the very thing that is necessary to prepare, which is to have a citizens' assembly on the constitutional future. On the one hand, the Government is saying it must be done, while on the other it will not do it. That citizens' assembly has to be done. We have a responsibility. I do not care what people's preference is. We have a responsibility to have a citizens' assembly so that people can have their say and we can have answers to the many questions. The Good Friday implementation committee is doing a piece of work on the constitutional future, which looks at the economy, women and the Constitution, climate change, agriculture, education and all these elements, but that alone will not be enough. I welcome all the work being done across academia. The ESRI reports and research being done there are very important, but we must have a citizens' assembly on the issue because we must be prepared for a referendum on Irish unity, as provided for in the Good Friday Agreement, as soon as possible. We have to prepare now.

The PEACEPLUS programme offers opportunities for all the local authorities throughout this island to exchange with local authorities in the North. We have to work on reconciliation, peace and prosperity. The only way to do that is to do it together.

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