Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Members for being reasonable in their comments and not raising matters unnecessarily that might cause difficulties in the context of other discussions that are ongoing. This is Parliament and we must be able to speak openly, but at the same time people must be conscious of other discussions that have been ongoing for quite some time. They have been ongoing for months at this stage and although progress is being made, difficulties are being posed for both parties and their leaderships.

I will start with Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill's comments. Most Members of this House do not need to be reminded of the consequences of direct rule for Northern Ireland. It would be devastating if it were to happen, not just in the context of Brexit but also in the context of community relations and the need to find pragmatic and practical ways of reconciling. Political leaders must show the many who follow them how to behave, interact and build trust and faith between two communities that come from very different places on many issues. Since becoming Minister, I have tried to spend as much time as I can north of the Border, speaking to people on the streets of Derry, Belfast and elsewhere. I took up the invitation from Ms Arlene Foster to bring my family to the North to spend a weekend there. If I might be forgiven for a moment for indulging in a personal experience, I had a powerful moment with my children. I was trying to find a way to introduce them to the story and legacy of Northern Ireland.I found a way of doing this on the Peace Bridge in Derry, where we literally sat down and spoke about why the bridge needed to be built and who paid for it, ironically in the context of Brexit. I tried to simplify for an eight year old and a six year old the complexity of the history, pain and tragedy, and progress of Northern Ireland.

I want to be a proactive Minister on these issues, assisting parties and communities to start talking to each other and, in time, trusting each other, so we can find real ways of bringing about reconciliation that matters. I recognise that even though all of the speakers have a slightly different emphasis on what they are saying, reconciliation is a common theme among everybody, particularly those who have lived, for some or a lot of their lives, in Northern Ireland.

In terms of the direct dialogue with the DUP on the Irish language, I have spoken to the DUP on all of the issues, just like I have spoken to the other parties, and there is a responsibility on political leaders in a Government in Dublin to get to know and try to build some trust with all community leaders and all political parties in Northern Ireland, the DUP included. I hope I have been pretty forthcoming in recognising the role Arlene Foster is trying to play at the moment, in particular her comments on the Irish language. She is the first DUP leader ever to speak to her own community and say it should not fear the Irish language. She is the first DUP leader to say the party should be legislating, but there are limits to what she can achieve and those limits, obviously, are being explored, just like there are limits to what Sinn Féin can live with on the same issue.

If there is to be a way forward on a difficult issue like this, and there are other issues as it is not just the Irish language, then both leaders and their negotiating teams need to find a way to accommodate each other, and this is not easy politically. Some people find it frustrating when they hear me commenting or speaking about it, and perhaps the less I say in that type of commentary the better, because it is up to the two parties on a bilateral basis to find a way of accommodating each other, recognising the complexity and politics of these issues within their own communities and support bases, and being able to take brave decisions to move the issue forward, because there is a bigger context here, which is that Northern Ireland needs a government.

Decisions on many of the issues to which some of the Senators have referred, practical matters in Northern Ireland such as how schools are run and how the health service is run and the response to flooding and other issues, cannot be made without political input. I hear it every now and again, when people say to me they do not have much faith in the political institutions of Northern Ireland, that maybe the status quois not so bad. The status quois not sustainable. Civil servants cannot continue to make decisions. There are many areas where they simply do not have a political mandate to make decisions, so politicians outside of Northern Ireland will have to start making decisions at some point in the not too distant future if it is not possible for directly-elected politicians in Northern Ireland to find a way of putting an executive and a functioning assembly in place that allow them to solve the problems of the people they represent. This is why this is so important, and why the British and Irish Governments have a responsibility to try to facilitate the structured dialogue that is continuing. These negotiations, I am glad to say, are in private for the most part now. They were very much in public at the start of the summer, and that structure proved difficult, particularly after two very divisive elections, and let us be honest about this. The Assembly election and the Westminster election in Northern Ireland were very divisive elections. There is new leadership in both Sinn Féin and the DUP and, for that matter, in the SDLP and the UUP. With new leadership comes new pressures, and we have seen communities in many ways being more divided on key political issues than we have seen for some time.

Yes, a breakthrough is needed, and I want to recognise the efforts the negotiating teams in Sinn Féin and the DUP are embarked upon at present. I also want to thank the other political parties for their patience. The SDLP, the UUP and the Alliance Party have largely been observers over the summer. While, of course, there is engagement, they recognise an assembly is not possible without the two largest parties finding some accommodation of each other. In my view, they have shown remarkable generosity and maturity in the context of how they have responded to date. They need to be involved in the negotiations in the context of forming an executive, but they know there is a barrier to overcome first between Sinn Féin and the DUP, which is what all of us are trying to assist with right now.

I do not think I need to talk about the consequences of direct rule. Most people realise where that takes us. It is not a good place, and it is something the Government would be very concerned about if it looked like we were moving in that direction. There is also a timing issue. Northern Ireland needs a budget. What we are coming down to now is practical realities. If there is not an assembly and an executive to pass the budget there are responsibilities on others to pass a budget and bring financial clarity to a whole series of sectors that need state support and funding. As I said, we all want the directly-elected representatives in Northern Ireland to be the people making decisions on these matters in terms of prioritising how money is spent.

With regard to Senator Ó Donnghaile's comments on the DeSouza case, I have written to him on this and we will continue to follow up with him on it. In the Good Friday Agreement there is very strong reference to the right of citizens in Northern Ireland to be able to choose Irish citizenship if they want to, British citizenship if they want to or dual citizenship if they want to. Of course, this has consequences in the context of Brexit because with Irish citizenship comes EU citizenship and the rights that flow from this, which is an added complication but an important one.

In terms of reconciliation and the need for reciprocation in both communities, that is true but, depending on where one comes from and how one has been affected by the tragedies and violence of Northern Ireland, it is very difficult for some people to find a way of doing this. Real leadership, in my view, comes from people who are willing to continue to try to promote and act in a way that promotes reconciliation, even if there is nothing coming the other way. We need to continue to do this rather than in any way making it contingent on getting something back. I accept the Senator was not saying this.