Maurice Hayes (Independent)

The Senator is very kind and I thank him for that. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Cowen, on his speech, which was thoughtful and purposeful, and on the way in which he is tackling this subject. His speech should be read in parallel with Prime Minister Blair's speech – also a nuanced one – rather than the soundbites taken from it. I wish I had taken possession of the phrase "rendezvous with reality" before the Minister but, as Oscar Wilde said, maybe I will.

It is important the Minister made clear that the arrangement under direct rule was not an attempt at the reconquest of Ulster and that what was being pushed forward were the important common elements, which are greatly important, the policing of human rights and reform of the criminal justice system, which are a part of the Agreement as well as the North-South implementation bodies. I hope they are pushed on.

It is clear to those of us living in the North that things are better. I was at the Ulster Unionist Conference on Saturday and heard a delegate from West Tyrone say, "Things are better. I haven't been at a policeman's funeral for five years." We all have our benchmarks. Mine is that my children can go out on a Saturday night and I am not worrying about whether the pub they are in will be blown up. There are sectarian interfaces where people have much less pleasant lives, but by and large for the bulk of citizens there has been a change, and that is recognised.

There has been a severe breach of trust or loss of confidence. It is all very well talking about the electoral mandate people have and that they were voted in to do a certain job and should get on with it, but one can bring the horses to the water and that is as far as one gets. A shared administration hypothesises the support of representatives of both communities and a majority of people in both communities. It also requires a willingness to share to achieve that.

The key element over the past three or four years has been the erosion of support in the Unionist community for the Agreement. I am sure Unionists would be surprised to hear me trying to tell Senators of the difficulties in their community. These are seriously and severely felt by people who thought they had entered into an undertaking on a particular basis, which they find hard to sustain. Some 55% of Unionists voted in favour of the Agreement, but their level of support has fallen to the low thirties or even lower. We have lost the soft Unionist vote and perhaps some of those who were committed before hand. There is an urgent need for the recreation of that trust.

I am attracted by the Minister's formulation of the need for a quantum leap. The first people who have to make that quantum leap are republicans in the current circumstances. There has been a loss of trust on both sides. Unionists also have to make a quantum leap.