Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I thank the Leader of the House for organising this debate at such short notice. It is important that we should at least publicly reflect on the current situation in Northern Ireland before the House goes into recess for Easter. I thank her sincerely for organising this debate.

Last week was an important week historically for this country. At one level it was five years since the Good Friday Agreement was negotiated, but it was also an important week in the history of my party. Some 80 years ago last week to the very week Cumann na nGael was established in Dublin, nine months after the first Free State Government was established. In a sense my party was a Government first and a political party second.

The great success of that first and second Government of the Free State was twofold. One, it immediately brought about a civilian control of the Army which was not even achieved in the first Dáil in 1919. Second, by 1930 the Army was half the size it was in 1922. That underlines the importance W. T. Cosgrave and the first and second Governments gave to demilitarisation and taking the gun out of Irish politics. I reflect on that historical point this evening so that we can all point the way to progress in Northern Ireland.