Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House. I know that he is busy working on the events that coincide with St. Patrick's Day which will present a great opportunity for Ireland to engage on foreign policy issue and also with the global Irish network.

Given that the Minister is attending to important business in the North, there are issues about which we have concerns, including the impact of Brexit on the island and the Good Friday Agreement. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Agreement. We have to point out again that, in spite of numerous requests from the Joint Committee on the Good Friday Agreement, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has refused to provide us with a detailed analysis of what has been implemented, line by line, issue by issue, under the Agreement and what has yet to be implemented. We know that it is possible for it to do so because both it and the secretariat in Northern Ireland produce a detailed analysis every six months. As the Minister is aware, the Government will be asked to reflect on the Good Friday Agreement, discuss its strengths and weaknesses and whether it is fit for purpose for the next 20 years. Obviously, the question that will come up is how much has been implemented and what is left to be implemented. The committee has been asked this question by a House of Commons select committee, members of which came before us in private session. As the Acting Chairman knows, the answer is that the Government is not entirely sure. As a member of the committee, I know that sounds a little odd, but time and again all we have received from the Department is nothing short of a compilation of press releases on issues such as civil rights, the language Act and others about which we can read in any newspaper, including victims and cases which have not been resolved. In many cases, they have not been investigated. With other members of the committee, I have asked for it to be included in the work programme that we receive a detailed analysis from the Department of the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. On the day I joined the committee in 2016 I asked if anyone could tell me what had yet to be implemented under it. With that knowledge, one can benchmark the achievement of the committee, but to this day all we have received are five or six pages, which is not good enough. It is not good enough for the committee to be treated in that way, but it is also not good enough that the Department, unless it has a document hidden away in some filing cabinet, does not make an analysis every six months, as it does in the case of the Fresh Start agreement. However, it has not done so in the case of the overarching Good Friday Agreement. We will continue to ask for such an analysis and some bright breezy day it might appear. It should appear this year because it is nothing short of embarrassing that the Department is not able to answer the question. It should be able to hand out a document stating what has been achieved, what has not been achieved and what has yet to be implemented.

The Taoiseach was asked in the Dáil a few moments ago about the prospect of there being a united Ireland. It was the stock answer from any Department. I think it was Senator Michael McDowell who alluded to the three standard replies given - it was too early to intervene; the issue was too sensitive to intervene; and it was too late to intervene. In the middle of the reply it was stated there were issues ongoing in Northern Ireland. Issues arise in Northern Ireland all of the time. For the Taoiseach not to address the issues of concern is a problem for the unionist community because they are concerned about the future. This was outlined in a report I compiled which was endorsed by the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement on unionist concerns about the holding of a referendum on a united Ireland. Three issues were raised in an analysis carried out for the committee by a former member of the Ulster Defence Regiment. The first was the issue of land ownership. It was asked if we would seek the return of the lands granted during the plantations. The second was the issue of retribution for former members of the security forces who had been involved in collusion or murders during the Troubles. The third was the issue of identity, how the British identity would be respected in a united Ireland. None of these issues is being addressed.

The Taoiseach stated it was too sensitive to intervene because the immediate issue was re-establishing the Stormont Assembly. Of course, that is important, but the long-term issues in Northern Ireland are of equal importance because, as Mr. John Bradley pointed out and as was quoted in the report, "policy neglect seldom goes unpunished". I am sure the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is looking for the policy papers it has available on the achievement of Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution because it is being asked by the High Court to produce them. It is to supply preliminary documents by 14 February. Has it got them? Some would classify them as foreign affairs issues but others would not. They see them in the context of the State's objective and engagement with Britain. They concern the achievement of the main aim of the State or, as the then Attorney General Rory Brady described it, a constitutional obligation on the Government of the day to put forward the case and address the concerns of all sides. The High Court is looking for the policy papers because a unionist, Mr. Raymond McCord, is taking the State to court to find out what it is doing to achieve its own aims. It is nothing short of something out of "Yes, Minister". His son, Raymond Jnr., was murdered by the UVF on the instructions of a paid informant of the RUC. This shows the dysfunctional nature of the Northern Ireland state in the deployment by the state of South American-type murder gangs.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. There has been engagement with unionists in Northern Ireland on the economic issues associated with Brexit. That is where the issue of keeping the Border open comes in. It is very important to the people living on both sides of the community to ensure there will be a continuation of the economic benefits peace has brought.Unfortunately, the dividends of peace are mostly in the South. The UN human development index shows that in health, education and income, the Republic is ranked eighth in the world. The UK is ranked 16th. If Northern Ireland is isolated and treated as an independent economic area, according to the Oireachtas Library and Research Service, it is ranked 44th in the world in terms of health, education and income.