Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I thank our Fianna Fáil colleagues for moving this Private Members' motion. The Fine Gael Party unreservedly supports it. It is right and proper for the House to congratulate all those involved in the peace process for the amazing achievements of recent months.

The Leader pointed to several politicians and Taoisigh involved in the process. I believe it goes further back and I would include former Taoisigh, Mr. Liam Cosgrave, Dr. Garret FitzGerald and, particularly, Mr. Jack Lynch, during whose tenure there were enormous difficulties facing the Republic. I also acknowledge the astonishing work of our colleague, Senator Mansergh. The State is fortunate to have a political and diplomatic class which has achieved so much over so many years in recognising and resolving the Anglo-Irish issue.

There are similarities between the end of the Civil War, on 3 May 1923, and the event we all look forward to on 8 May 2007. The Civil War, which saw 18 months of bloodshed, was brought to an end by a very simple exchange of letters between W. T. Cosgrave, then President of the Executive Council, and Eamon de Valera, leader of the then republican opposition. W. T. Cosgrave asked de Valera to accept two fundamental principles, that the sovereign wish of the people would be expressed by a majority vote of Dáil Éireann and there could only be one Army, accountable to Dáil Éireann. De Valera, the great statesman and tactician, unreservedly accepted these principles.

The significance of that event is just as important as what is hoped will happen on 8 May when the newly established Executive is brought into being and the inter-party government in Northern Ireland is established. It will bring to an end a phase in Irish history which had its genesis in the Sunningdale Agreement. That agreement marked the beginning of a consistent attempt on the part of democratic Ireland and Britain to resolve our historic quarrel by way of a settlement which involved the recognition of the reality that there are two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland but a great commonality in how our affairs are ordered, especially in North-South development. It has taken us such a long time that I recall Seamus Mallon's description of the Good Friday Agreement as "Sunningdale for slow learners".

It is disgraceful that in the past 35 years so many people had to be needlessly murdered to get to this stage. It is appropriate that we never forget their sacrifice and the needless murder machine put in place by paramilitary Ireland for 35 years. This is a victory of parliamentary Ireland over paramilitary Ireland. It is a victory for democratic Ireland over those elements which have consistently undermined State security and engendered a sectarian campaign of violence against our fellow brothers and sisters of all traditions in Northern Ireland. It is a great victory for this Parliament and for British politics that we have come to this state where the embodiment of the Good Friday Agreement, universally accepted by our people in 1998, is the way in which a new Ireland will be formed.

In the days and weeks ahead, it is important that both Governments put into being the North-South parliamentary tier, a key aspect of the Agreement. After the general election, the new Oireachtas must meet the Northern Ireland Assembly.

There are still elements about, especially in militant republicanism, which refuse to accept this new dispensation. It is important in the days and weeks ahead that the Government and the security forces keep a firm eye on these tiny elements which want to bring their warped view of history to the fore and create trouble for the process.

In 1921, the Nationalists of the Twenty-six Counties turned their backs on the Nationalists of Northern Ireland. There was a betrayal when Twenty-six Counties Nationalists allowed the Nationalists of the Six Counties to be partitioned into the United Kingdom. There was also another betrayal in 1921 — the betrayal of the British of their 10% of the population in the Free State.