Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

——when it was called for and when, perhaps, there was some doubt that he might not discharge the responsibilities of a responsible political leader in Northern Ireland. I welcome that. On the other hand, I fully agree with what Senator Ryan said about the perpetrators of the cruel, horrific murder of Robert McCartney and hope that, like many other unsolved murders in the North, it will be resolved in this new era of hoped-for police co-operation from all sides of the community.

Another McCartney was in the news last week who did no service whatever not only to his own constituents but to the Unionist population of Northern Ireland. While he may be a brilliant platform speaker, when the verbiage and hyperbole and the attacks he made on the DUP in the Assembly last week are stripped away, in effect what he is proposing is a return to that sort of darkness to which the Leader referred for all the people not only of Northern Ireland but of this island. Those are his policies which, thankfully, are dead. I hope the Unionist population of his constituency in north Down at election time next March will send a powerful message to Mr. McCartney that he is a dinosaur in political terms in Northern Ireland and that he represents nobody but himself.

I endorse the references made to the British-Irish body. If the Minister of State has any influence in this regard, there should be a merging of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body and the British-Irish Council. It happened with the Nordic Council and it is working effectively. That should be the next development in the relationship at parliamentary and ministerial level, North-South and east-west.

I acknowledge the outstanding role the International Fund for Ireland has played in my county of Leitrim and across all the southern and northern Border counties. It is ironic that when this concept was first developed, that is, the peace and reconciliation fund, with the help and support of the Irish Government at European level it was the Unionist population who were the most reluctant to get involved because they saw it as yet another example of the unification of Ireland by stealth. How we have moved on. The peace and reconciliation fund has done outstanding work on both sides of the Border.

When the North-South Implementation Bodies get organised I hope there will be a push for the development of the Ulster Canal. I was disappointed at the remarks and reply of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mr. Peter Hain, when I raised this issue with him at the recent plenary session of the body when he indicated that there might not be sufficient funds available in the same week our Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, said the Irish Government was prepared to put the necessary resources into it. I hope there will be a continuation of the pressure on the UK Government.

On the question of the all-island economy, which the Bill is indirectly about, we are again in a new era. To quote Gerry Adams, there is a new dispensation in the land. Whether people like it or not, we are moving towards an all-island economy. Unionist businessmen might say it sotto voce and might not wish to go public on it but they know the best way forward for the business community and the development of this island in terms of prosperity for all our people is an all-island economy, and it has little to do with the constitutional issues.

So far as I am concerned the Border is an irrelevancy. I live in a Border county. It makes no difference to me whatever or to my friends or colleagues in Fermanagh. The Border is gone so any constitutional issues can be resolved into the future. In practical terms, what will put bread on the table and give clothing and jobs to people, especially in the disadvantaged areas of Northern Ireland, is the all-island economy.

The Minister of State was correct to make a small but important reference to the dark forces still within Northern Ireland, as exemplified by the Michael Stone incident. On a positive note, it was reported in the media that allegedly four UDA groups went out looking for Mr. Stone, who I understand had telephoned a number of media outlets in the days prior to his attack on Stormont seeking publicity, in an attempt to stop him because he was disrupting the peace process. That is another encouraging sign within the Unionist community who, I believe, are like us and want little more than peace and prosperity for all the people in Ireland.