Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Someone said it reminded him of a Mafia funeral. It was not the most auspicious of beginnings, but once things quietened down they worked extremely well and, as the Leader said, became mundane and ordinary. Getting things done is the essential part of politics which large sections of the world find boring.

The Minister of State paid tribute to the work of the Ulster Unionist members of the Executive. Did the Democratic Unionist Party not participate in any way in the North-South Ministerial Council? It sems a strange ommission to pay tribute to one Unionist party and not another. I am not being picky, but wonder if there is a reason for the ommission of the DUP.