Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Bíonn an-áthas orm é a fheiceáil i gcónaí. Is fear é a bhíonn dáiríre sa Tigh seo, agus is cuimhin liom na blianta ó shin go raibh sé ar fhear de na hAirí Stáit ba luaithe a thosnaigh a ghlacadh le leasuithe do Bhillí sa Tigh seo agus é ag déileáil le Bille faoi leanaí. Bíonn argóintí eadrainn ó am go ham, ach de ghnáth bíonn se dáiríre faoin Tigh seo.

The Bill is welcome. It is a sign of the grown up nature of Irish politics with all of the mutual recriminations that there are profound issues on which there is great consensus. One of the issues on which consensus has been reached, by and large, is on the way forward for Northern Ireland. While I accept that the issue involved is simple, this is not the simplest of Bills. Its purpose is to insert an amendment to amending legislation.

I wish to make a point in the presence of the Cathaoirleach and the Leader. While the proposed legislation before us is not of a complicated nature, we are at a disadvantage compared with our Dáil colleagues who have computerised access to all legislation in Chamber on their desks. If a Member of the Dáil wants to examine the context of an amendment, he or she can push a button and do so. We, in this House, are at a disadvantage, given that we initiate 40% of legislation. As someone who is certain to remain in this Chamber rather than elsewhere in the Oireachtas, I do not consider this to be fair. It is time we sorted out this issue. However, I accept that it is a separate matter. I raise it solely because the Bill is simple and is not one with which I take issue.

I have only one query regarding the Bill. The commencement date is to be decided by the Minister for Finance. I do not understand how this can be the case, given that the Bill is sponsored by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Members of the House will be sick of hearing about my obsession with the over-reaching power of the Department of Finance and its apparent determination to control everything. I am keen to hear an explanation for why an amendment to amended legislation which is dealt with in both Houses by the Minister for Foreign Affairs would be introduced into force by the Minister for Finance. Given the importance of the legislation, surely it should come into force once it has been signed into law by Uachtarán na hÉireann? I do not see any reason other than the usual reflex of Departments to hold on, just in case

The Bill is welcome. The scale of expenditure outlined in the Minister of State's address is extensive. One of the issues on which we are all agreed is that future expenditure will need to be even greater. I previously referred to the interesting submission made to the Government by the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland in the context of the forthcoming national development plan, and its creative idea that nowhere in the country should be more than two hours drive from an international airport. In terms of the north west that would necessitate the construction of an efficient road network in Northern Ireland so that the north west of the Republic, in particular County Donegal, would have access to Belfast International Airport and George Best Belfast City Airport.

If, as appears to be the case, the Government will be generous in the funding provided for infrastructural investment, this will be beneficial to Northern Ireland and the north west, which is cut off in many ways. Another infrastructural deficit which has led to Donegal being marginalised is its lack of access to high voltage electricity. This has had a negative effect on the county's potential attraction for industrial investment.

The lack of provision of broadband appears to be an issue unique to Ireland. I am pleased to hear the funding has been used to facilitate broadband access in the Border counties. Northern Ireland has had 100% broadband access for at least the past six months, something which appears to elude the Government in spite of the announcements it makes.

The Bill provides an opportunity to speak about the future, about which I am extremely optimistic. For a variety of reasons I anticipated that there would be various hiccups around 24 November. There has been sufficient ambiguity for some people to be able to say they were bounced into deadlines while, at the same time, they said enough to ensure the deadlines were met without anybody else feeling they were bounced into dissolving anything. We have this peculiar interregnum where the Northern Ireland Assembly, which was due to either sort out its issues or be dissolved on 24 November, is now in a state of semi-existence with people going as far as was necessary to prevent anything decisive without doing anything decisive quite yet.

I wish Sinn Féin well and I hope its leadership succeeds in persuading its members to give full, unequivocal support to the police service. Once that is done, I hope outstanding issues such as the murder of Robert McCartney will be resolved. It would not be a proper price to pay for peace in Northern Ireland to allow the apparent quasi-paramilitary killing of Robert McCartney to go unpunished. I hope co-operation with the police will mean the case will be resolved.

I am pleased the Leader referred to the role of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body, which I did not appreciate until I became a member of it. Its number one achievement is the creation of informal contacts in a way that is unimaginable to those of us who are used to them. I recall my good friend in the Labour Party, Deputy Seamus Pattison, when celebrating his 45 years as a Member of the other House, talking about trips abroad in the 1960s. The two questions he was asked when he got home were if he had raised the issue of partition and if he had stayed away from the Brits. That was the sum total of our attitudes 40 years ago. We have moved on from that and have recognised that the neighbouring island, with all its wonderful eccentricities and peculiar ways of doing things, the consequence of centuries of peculiar traditions to many of us, has become a good friend of ours and we are able to talk about the peculiarities informally and formally.

Like all parliamentary bodies, the BIIPB is an irritant to Governments, just as parliaments are generally which is why most Governments like to keep their parliaments closed for as long as possible — summer, autumn and winter and, if possible, for longer. There is a huge hiatus to separating the activities of the British-Irish Council and the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body and it is time they were meshed and matched together.

We were in Belfast for the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body meeting last October. The city is transformed.