Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, am glad to have the opportunity to say a few words on this very important development where the parties have come together to operate the power-sharing Assembly in the North. For too long, they had not been agreeing or working but we are glad it is happening now. I appreciate both sides - Sinn Féin and the DUP - coming together. We wish Michelle O'Neill all the very best as First Minister, and give our best wishes to the DUP as well. We hope they continue to work together.

Similar to those we represent down here, people from every sector of the community there have been disenfranchised. In the North, that results from the inability to access funds from the UK. They have been promised more than £3 billion and we hope they get the required funding. They say they need more but let them operate with what they get first and then let the DUP and Sinn Féin fight for more together.

We welcome that all communities, whether they are Catholic or Protestant, will now reap the benefits of the Good Friday Agreement. They are entitled to that. They have suffered for long enough. It is good that the children of today do not have to go through what their parents and grandparents went through for many years up there. We are glad that children do not have to go through the bloodshed and mayhem that was once the order of the day. We wish them very well. Any help they need from the Government should be forthcoming.

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