Dan Boyle (Green Party)

The tabling of this motion is an opportunity for the House to welcome the agreement reached between the Northern Ireland parties on the devolution of justice and policing functions. It is another important step towards the normalisation of politics in Northern Ireland.

I had the good fortune of being a curious bystander on the Monday of the week the agreement was reached as I was attending a meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Stormont. The comings and goings of people between Stormont and Hillsborough gave me a sense of the level of discussions between the parties. While the position in terms of reaching agreement was still uncertain at that time, there was a willingness to come to an agreement. That an agreement has been reached is be welcomed, in particular given the difficult political circumstances. This is an election year in Northern Ireland. To have reached agreement when the opportunity of scoring political points exists is to the credit of all involved. We have an opportunity of extending this as the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly meets in full session next week in Cavan. It is hoped the experiences of the agreement can spread throughout the three strands. This motion and forthcoming meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly presents us with an opportunity to consider where we stand in terms of development in this regard.

It is true to say that with the devolution of the justice and policing functions, much progress has been made within Northern Ireland. Through the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and its work, work between the east-west strand has developed significantly. While there has been much progress on the North-South strand, in particular in regard to the all-island bodies in the food and tourism areas, much remains to be done in particular on the interparliamentary side. We look forward to the establishment later this year of a North-South parliamentary forum.

The normalisation of politics in Northern Ireland is to be welcomed. I had an opportunity to meet the British ambassador during a visit to Ireland recently of the Northern Ireland Westminster Committee. I pointed out that a recent Minister for the Environment in Northern Ireland could be criticised by the Green Party in Northern Ireland on political grounds, namely, that he is a climate change denier. Northern Ireland politics appears always to have been built on the denial of one issue or another. It was good to have a political issue on which to have disagreement.

The motion before us welcomes the process. The friendly amendment tabled by Senators O'Toole, Harris and Quinn in regard to the civic forum is another important element. Just as the parliamentary forum between North and South needs to be developed, the existence of a parallel structure in Northern Ireland is important in terms of our development of cross-community relations. While there has been a half-hearted attempt and, perhaps, over-politicised effort to do so in the past, what has been suggested by bodies such as Co-operation Ireland needs to considered at this stage, namely, the involvement of non-governmental organisations in a civic forum, not so much as an antidote as a good contrast to the type of increasingly normalised politicking that goes on in Stormont, similar to how the Seanad is to Dáil Éireann, which is our argument in this Chamber. I am not too sure if everyone present would agree with that.

I agree that in welcoming the most recent agreement we need to be aware of the threats that exist. Despite recent disarmament measures taken by a number of paramilitary organisations, a small but significant number of people still have recourse to violence to achieve political ends. Every effort must be made to isolate them further within Northern Ireland and elsewhere on the island of Ireland. The bipartisan nature of our approach to Northern Ireland policy will be useful in achieving this. While there is no immediate violent intent or involvement in terms of pursuing other extreme opinions, it should be noted that, according to a recent opinion poll, at least 5% or 6% of the Northern Ireland electorate have an irredentist approach towards their own community. They will be contesting future elections and the extent to which they will be able to stymie or frustrate further progress is something about which we need to be concerned. The only way of avoiding this is by showing that politics can work.

I join in welcoming the new SDLP leader, Margaret Ritchie, and wish her well in her function. While it does not conform to normal modes of government, the success of the inter-party government in Northern Ireland is dependent on having a multi-party approach to get us through this period. In the final part of the process of devolving police and justice functions we will see for the first time in Northern Ireland's history the possibility of engaging in normal politics. That is something Members of this House, as well as the Minister and his Department, should be encouraging most strongly.