Maurice Hayes (Independent)

I thank Senator Mooney for his promotional remarks. Anything I have to say will be found at greater length tomorrow. I would welcome a debate on Northern Ireland. It would be particularly appropriate given the tone that is being set by Members of the House. This is not a time for recriminations and for throwing things about. It is a time to recognise the pressures that are on people on all sides and how difficult it is for them. They are playing to several audiences, including a very critical one of their own. A photograph of itself is of really no importance but it is what it symbolises and this can be humiliating and triumphalist.

I recognise the work done by the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister and also by the civil servants on both sides who have done so much of the fetching and carrying. I welcome a meeting but I hope that people on all sides outside this House can restrain their language over the next couple of weeks.