Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I thank the Senator for the invitation to the Council of Europe, which I will consider. My programme for this year is extensive. I am fortunate that the Minister of State, Deputy Creighton, will bear responsibility for part of it in conjunction with her EU work. We hope we will be able to work something out between us.

On Senator Cullinane's question, I and the Secretary of State, Mr. Paterson continuously discuss the outstanding issues arising from the Good Friday Agreement. I hope that development of North-South arrangements and institutions will continue. I am particularly anxious to see the North-South parliamentary body progressed as quickly as possible. I know that the Ceann Comhairle and the Cathaoirleach have been doing a great deal of work on that.

On Senator White's question in regard to Justice for the Forgotten, I met the representative of that group. It is an issue that has been repeatedly raised at several levels with the British Government. I have raised the issue with my counterparts, including the Secretary of State, Mr. Paterson, foreign secretary, Mr. Hague and the Deputy Prime Minister. The Taoiseach has also raised the issue with the Prime Minister Mr. Cameron.

On Senator Burke's question on settlements, we have raised that issue with the Israeli authorities. The settlement which would cause the most damage is the one to which I referred earlier, namely, the E1 settlement, about which we have spoken directly to the Prime Minister Mr. Netanyahu.

On how safe the euro is in the context of the EU fiscal arrangements, the purpose of the treaty and arrangements discussed last Monday is to stabilise the situation relating to the euro. That is of huge importance to people here, which point has been lost sight of in the context of discussions on last Monday's summit.