Alex White (Labour)

In this case, the Taoiseach has given a very fair-minded and helpful account of the Government's management and stewardship of the peace process and what has arisen therefrom in the past two or three years. This was important because we do not get an opportunity to discuss Northern Ireland very often in the House. The Taoiseach was correct to point to the achievements and my colleague, Senator Fitzgerald, and others were correct to express their regret and revulsion in respect of events in the North last night. It is hoped these will be short lived and that the police and others will take all the steps necessary to ensure they do not recur.

Senator Doherty, in addition to the Taoiseach, was correct to state the bringing into the North of policing and justice is an important next step. It is long overdue. There are difficulties and sensitivities pertaining to policing but it constitutes a vital step that needs to be taken as early as possible to make progress and bed down the normality that has been achieved in the North.

The Taoiseach, when referring to the economic recession we are facing, implied it has the potential to reinforce mutual dependency between the North and South. I agree with his statement. He referred to the measures we can adopt together, North and South, to build a genuine all-island economy. We talk about it a lot and, in this regard, colleagues referred to the transport infrastructure projects that have been pursued and to the problems associated with health and higher education co-operation that need to be addressed.

While endorsing all the points made on what has been achieved, I ask the Taoiseach and the North-South Ministerial Council to consider east-west infrastructural developments in addition to North-South infrastructural projects. This is a time of recession and people might believe such proposals are fanciful in such a context but very often a time of pressure and recession is the very time to be more ambitious. If we consider the relative proximity of this island to its neighbouring island and the developments between Denmark and Sweden, we will realise Ireland is likely to constitute the only part of the European Union that is separated from the European mainland by the sea. Bearing in mind that this matter has been considered by many expert technical and engineering groups in Britain, including the rail companies, will the Taoiseach consider a feasibility study on some form of physical link, by way of a tunnel or bridge, between this island and the neighbouring island? This is not an entirely fanciful suggestion as it has been taken up in other parts of the world where the distances in question are much greater.

When focusing on economies, particularly city economies, we should take into account the considerable importance of high-speed rail links between cities across Europe. On more than one occasion The Economist has stated that Europe is in the grip of a high-speed rail revolution. What better project could we imagine for the future generation? I accept it is unlikely to be carried out in our generation given the sheer ambition, application and funding required, perhaps on the part of many different sources.

When bearing in mind what has been achieved on this island, we should look back less often than we used to. We can afford to look to the future and, in this regard, the Taoiseach may consider the project I propose, even at the level of a very basic feasibility study or at the level of considering whether it would be desirable in the first instance to link this island to the neighbouring island, which itself has a high-speed rail link to the European mainland.