Results 16,521-16,540 of 18,851 for speaker:Fergus O'Dowd
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: I was going to ask Mr. O’Connor on the origin of the Good Friday Agreement, the question of the Border poll and the reserve function of whomever the British administrator of the North is-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: It seems to me, and if Mr. O'Connor does not want to comment, that is fine-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: It seems to be a weakness in the agreement that there is no consensual consent other than his decision. It seems to me, and I know Mr. O'Connor is not a political person and I am not trying to put a political point in his head-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: -----but I am trying to work this out. Mr. O’Connor is absolutely right. It is top of the agenda now and we have to deal it. However, we have to deal with it in a way that is proportionate. My biggest concern is that if there were a poll and it were to be lost, that is one awful thing that might happen. If there were a poll and it were to be won and there was not an appropriate...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: No, it is not.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: Fair enough.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: Tá sé agam anseo.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: That is the reference, yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: Some of the people to whom I have spoken believe there was an implicit understanding that it would be discussed by the Northern secretary with his or her counterpart in the South-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: -----and that they would then move forward on that issue, rather than the Northern secretary just looking into his or her heart and that being it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: It is believed that people in different parts-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: I hear what Mr. O'Connor is saying.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: On that point, Mr. O'Connor's contribution is being recorded on video and in digital format. Everything he has said will be available to print tomorrow.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: It was well fought for and won on all sides. People paid a significant price post the event as well, as we know.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: That is the profound question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: On that point, Mr. O'Connor, the biggest difficulty the committee has is engaging with that other tradition, the unionist tradition. The fact is that of the 18 Members of Parliament elected in the North, ten of them attend our meetings, but the eight who do not are the people we need to talk to most. It is to engage in a manner with which they are comfortable or to find a formula with which...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: Yes, they have lost their clothes, as it were.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: It is the engagement.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: As demographic change happens and as the views are changing North and South, and there is a new middle ground in the North anyway, it is how we all can engage in a peaceful productive way for everybody. That is our challenge.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement: Mr. Tim O'Connor (26 May 2022)
Fergus O'Dowd: Everybody has made their contribution to the meeting. Some of the members have left but I suggest we have a photograph taken outside.