Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. He will remember the words spoken at the SDLP dinner on the Friday night a fortnight ago, quoting the words of John Hume asking people to live for their country and not die for their country. People often refer to the two communities in Northern Ireland. I think we need to refer to them as the two traditions and the aspiration, of course, is to have one community. That is what the Good Friday Agreement promises.

An analysis of 64 peace processes around the world showed that at the time only 19 were successful. While there are numerous reasons that most of them had failed, there are common themes as to why peace succeeds or fails. One of those, which was tragically present in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s, was the concept of a hurting stalemate where both sides were inflicting massive wounds on each other to the point whether neither could suffer any more and therefore decided that rather than continuing the bloodshed, they would sue for peace.

The analysis of those 64 peace processes also identified the need for an outside actor, who is neutral and able to act as an honest broker. We were lucky that we had the United States in that regard. Both sides need to pursue the same objective - in this case the Irish Government and the British Government. For the first time in centuries, all the stars aligned. All the actors and all the people and the leadership that were required were in place, in the form of John Major and Albert Reynolds initially, then and Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern, David Trimble, Deputy Gerry Adams, and on the Protestant paramilitary side, David Ervine and all the rest, all pursuing the same agenda. Even then we saw how difficult it was up to the last day for it to come together.

Peace is not an event; it is a process and it will go on for decades. The current impasse can be resolved when one considers the scale of the mountains that have been traversed - bigger than Mount Everest. Decommissioning, the RUC and the UDR have all been addressed and we are stuck on a language Act. It is bigger than that; it is an issue of respect and is about culture. It is about the issues of identity and how two traditions can live in the one community. That is the challenge that still faces us.

Of course, we are despondent that Stormont is in mothballs and therefore the North-South Ministerial Council is not in existence, possibly at the worst time with the issue of Brexit. The most recent House of Commons report on our own Border identified that there are no current technological solutions anywhere in the world that would keep that Border frictionless and open, other than, to quote the House of Commons report, the aspirational. We are facing a very real threat that the existing 275 Border crossings will be reduced again to the number of Border crossings that were open during the height of the Troubles when 40,000 security force personnel could not keep them open and could not keep them secure. It looks like we will be reduced to 20 Border crossings. There have been calls for the Irish and British Governments to get together and hold an intergovernmental conference, that in the absence of the parties in the North being able to reach agreement that there might be a role for Senator George Mitchell or some other individual, although there is no one else in the world like Senator George Mitchell. However, as we reflect on all the things which are not going right at the moment, we must reflect on the last 20 years and all the things that have been achieved in that time and all the lives that have been saved as a result of the peace process. Brexit is a huge challenge to Northern Ireland. I fail to understand how the unionists are not pursuing the best outcome for the people of Northern Ireland which is a foot in both camps and special status within the EU, while being part of the United Kingdom. It would give them the best of both worlds, yet they do not pursue it for ideological reasons. John Hume had many things to say about the pursuit of ideology for its own sake rather than asking what is the best outcome for the citizens.

It is interesting that the Minister quoted from the beginning of the agreement, regarding the achievement of "reconciliation, tolerance, and mutual trust," which as we all know is largely absent in Northern Ireland at the moment between the DUP and Sinn Féin. Expressions on all sides on the cultural issue in relation to the Irish language are not helpful. Once again, what I do not understand from the unionist perspective is how when one can have a Welsh language Act and Scottish language Act, and police vans in Scotland have "police" painted on them in Gaelic, why can this not be done in Northern Ireland? If I was a unionist, I would think that it strengthened the union, by respecting people's identity as they do in Wales and Scotland. It is something that makes them British.

If unionism was a business, it would be going out of business because it cannot attract new customers. Its new customers are to be found in the middle ground, they have been described to me as "small "N" nationalists and small "U" unionists" and are asking themselves what is the best future. I debated with Sammy Wilson on the radio on BBC Northern Ireland, when I said that we have a vision for the next 20 years and we think it is a united Ireland. The vision is down the line but it is one we can make; can unionism make an argument of what the best future is for all the people in Northern Ireland? Will a Brexit Britain be better than Northern Ireland in the EU? Sammy Wilson had no answer to that. There is no answer to that because as we all know, Northern Ireland will be the region most affected by Brexit, more than Scotland, Wales or England itself, which voted for Brexit. That is part of the problem. The unionist communities have concerns that do need to be addressed. If Stormont was up and running, we would be celebrating a huge success. In the challenges that lie ahead in getting it reconstituted, having it up and running again and having the trust back, it needs leadership from the DUP and Sinn Féin but also from Britain. The stars aligned in 1998, but they are not aligning now. With the DUP it is the tail wagging the dog in Westminster and Theresa May is largely hamstrung.

The Good Friday Agreement is lodged with the United Nations as an international agreement. To hear a British Prime Minister row back from the undertakings of the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements that Britain has no strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland and it is up to the people of Northern Ireland to decide their own future, and say it is no longer Britain's position, is a concern for us all. We know she is doing that because the DUP is the tail wagging the dog. When that situation ends we might see Britain being more flexible. The Government's approach in the negotiations on Brexit and on Northern Ireland are positive but the issue of the backstop is very important and more clarity is needed on it. Of all things that could destabilise Northern Ireland, the return of physical infrastructure on the Border would be the biggest backward step. We could live with Stormont being mothballed but the return of the Border, whether permanently or for a period, would be a very serious step backwards.