Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to welcome the Minister to the House and I thank him for his remarks. I wish everyone well in the coming weeks and months as they go electioneering in Northern Ireland. I know that a number of Members of this House will be going up to campaign and canvass for various candidates and parties. We are all professional politicians and know the strains and stresses of elections, be they local or national, including the hazards of climbing ladders to put up posters, as well as dogs biting and chasing candidates. I appreciate that it will be a difficult and stressful time but I sincerely wish the best of luck to everyone who enters into the spirit of true democracy.

Everyone acknowledges it is unfortunate that we are having an election and that the Assembly did not run to its full term. It is a good thing, however, that we are having a peaceful election. We should take care with our own rhetoric in this House and avoid point-scoring or attacking those who cannot answer back. Let us rather enter into the spirit of the debate. We should let the parties and individuals contesting the elections in the North have it out. Hopefully, they will resolve the issue so that we can get a fully functioning Executive after the election in March. Northern Ireland faces many great challenges at the moment, including Brexit. I am sincerely disappointed that Prime Minister May will not take the opportunity in her forthcoming visit to address either House of the Oireachtas. I trust that the Government is going into talks with the other 26 member states ahead of Article 50 being invoked and the Brexit negotiations to put the best case for the island of Ireland.

Other things need to sorted concerning scandals and the sheer stability of Northern Ireland. I fear that we take that stability for granted. We currently take a lot of things for granted, which was apparent in the referendum. People took so many of the benefits of EU membership for granted, that they simply forgot how far things have come since Ireland and the UK joined in the 1970s. An emerging generation is taking for granted the peace and stability we have in the North, which required great sacrifices from every side.

The shooting incident in the North earlier this week brought home how closely we could slip back into the dark days of the 1980s and 1990s. My grandfather would be rolling in his grave to hear me say this, but I too want to add my best wishes to Martin McGuinness. If it is good enough for Ian Paisley junior to say so, there is no way that I can stand in the way. He must be commended for what he has done and the sacrifices he has made. There are many people on both sides of the community in Northern Ireland who have made great sacrifices, as has the average Irish man and woman on both sides of the Border. Let us take that spirit of optimism and realism into the next few weeks.I have full faith in our Government and perhaps the British Government to act as guarantors and allow these elections to take place in the appropriate environment so that we get a resolution that will allow continued peace and stability on both sides of the Border and will allow Northern Ireland and the Republic to face the unique challenges of the coming years.