Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak. I will keep it very short. I will start by congratulating the Taoiseach on his work in his role. He is playing an excellent role at a European level in particular and I wish him well. We should all wear the green jersey when it comes to the Brexit issue. We should leave party politics to one side and work and speak on behalf of the State. I wish the Taoiseach well in all the negotiations.

There are two issues I want to refer to. One is the Northern Ireland issue, which is very complicated now because of the Brexit issue. This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement but we are 12 months without an Executive or a political forum in the North of Ireland. Civil servants are running the budgetary framework in the North of Ireland. The institutions are falling and there is a vacuum being created. I encourage the Taoiseach to redouble efforts in negotiating with the British Government to come to a resolution of power sharing in the North of Ireland. I visited both communities in the North of Ireland over the Christmas period, particularly in Derry and Belfast, and met with community organisations. They feel completely isolated and feel they have no voice whatsoever. That sort of a situation creates huge danger. There are other issues, apart from the Irish language issue. I agree wholeheartedly with my colleague, Senator Ó Donnghaile, about the legacy issues. They have not been adequately addressed and they need to be addressed. They are complex. The Tánaiste, Deputy Coveney, is dealing with the issues but there is a real need for a redoubling of those efforts. It is being left behind by Brexit.

The second issue is the national planning framework and where people will live, work and obtain State services from 2020 to 2040. There has not been enough national engagement on this issue. There will be a division one and division two after the current framework is implemented if it carries on. There will be a line between Dublin and Galway. North of that line there will be no economic investment. South of that line there will be the urban centres. The plan, as it stands, is flawed and needs to be revisited. We need more engagement on it. Before it is brought before both Houses of the Oireachtas, areas that are not included in the plan must be included, otherwise rural Ireland will be left behind yet again.