Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste to the House and I salute his hugely patient efforts in Northern Ireland. We have picked up anecdotally, and from various trips to the North and to London, that there is no doubt the Minister, Deputy Coveney, is winning the confidence of all the actors and major political figures in this whole drama. This is due to the Minister's sincerity, patience and genuine attempt to deal with this. I am aware that the Minister is putting long hours into this, leaving Northern Ireland to go back to Cork at all hours of the night. This merits our acclamation and encouragement. It is clear from the Minister's remarks today that he is not letting up on that.

I come from County Cavan, close to the Border, and I have an acute awareness of all that goes with this and all of the rawness of it. I can openly say that we were very close to being a Balkans situation at many stages during the Troubles. It got very close. What existed was shocking but on many occasions, such as at the time of Kingsmill, we were on the brink of being another Balkans situation or worse and becoming a genocide. Thank God this was avoided, and it was a great achievement. The Good Friday Agreement was born out of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and it merits repetition in a non-partisan way because we must be fair to everyone. That agreement was a prototype and it set the process in motion. It was crystalised and developed further into the Good Friday Agreement. The merit of the Good Friday Agreement was that it had the North-South structures, the east-west structures, an international agreement that the Republic was to give up its claim on Northern Ireland and the principle of a plebiscite of a referendum or Border poll was implied. It was a very wonderful and intricate political exercise. We should salute all of the actors and parties that were involved in it, and everybody who brought it about. This includes the Government of the day, the UK, Sinn Féin and the American dimension - which is very important to us. We salute everybody involved in the process who brought it on and subsequently the Governments on all sides who went on to work it.

At the event in Queen's University the Tánaiste said that it is very easy to forget how things were before the Agreement, especially the winter and spring before that Good Friday. They were shocking. Every morning we arose to more bad news. The agreement was so important. At the event in Queen's University Bill Clinton said that the agreement is a "jewel” in a world “where there are people who are aggressively trying to destroy the very idea of popular democracy”. The points made by the Tánaiste and by Bill Clinton at Queen's University, that the agreement got rid of something that was dreadful and that we should never lose sight of what it was like before the agreement, can only drive us on to hold on to it.

I put it to the Tánaiste and to Members that there is a generation that does not remember what happened then. There is potential to romanticise the past and there is potential for dissident activity to grow. We should never have illusions about that or be naive about it. Areas of disadvantage in Northern Ireland with high unemployment and vulnerable areas require positive interventions. We should advocate for this at all times. This is crucially important.

I shall now turn to the issue of Brexit. Any physical infrastructure on the Border such as cameras will be a potential pot-shot for dissidents, and the soldiers who then go to defend the infrastructure could also be a target. We could then be back to a dreadful situation. Apart from all the economic arguments, which are transparent, there is a compelling case to not have a hard border in the context of Brexit. There is a compelling case for the backstop solution to be implemented if necessary. Let us hope there will be a solution to involve the EU and the UK that will, effectively, maintain a customs union and will allow the Border issue to be dealt with. We have established the commitment for the free movement of people, which is vital. As a local in that area I realise the extraordinary significance of that commitment.While it is not germane to today's discussion, the significant social and economic impact of Brexit merits discussion on another day. I am a member of an all-party committee that is dealing with this issue. It is important that we preserve a seamless border and defend the Good Friday Agreement. In that regard, we fully support the Tánaiste's efforts.

As a parent, teacher and resident of a Border area, we should encourage as much cross-Border interaction as possible, for example, groups from the South travelling North and vice versa. It is often overlooked that substantial funds and grant aid were provided under the PEACE programme. The North-South dimension should have been tied in more strongly to this peace dividend. Physical evidence should be provided of links with groups on the other side of the Border. For instance, if a sports club in the Republic benefits from a grant under the PEACE programme, it should play games in Northern Ireland. While this may be a simple point, real peace is achieved from the bottom up. As a previous speaker stated, peace building is a process and not something one wakes up to some morning. The process dictates that there must be much more North-South interaction and the Tánaiste should seek to make greater interaction a condition of funding.

We aspire strongly to the establishment of a power-sharing administration in the North, the bedrock of the Good Friday Agreement. I cannot see why the Irish language needs to be politicised or why there should be a difficulty around the support of the language. Having checked earlier today with some of those involved, I understand communities can opt out of having Irish street names placed in their areas. A language commissioner should be appointed. I appeal to the DUP to view this solely as a cultural, identity and heritage issue. The Irish language is not a threat to anyone and should not be interpreted as such. I also appeal to Sinn Féin to continue working towards reaching an agreement and to provide as much reassurance as possible on the Irish language issue. In accepting that an Irish language Act should be introduced, I ask Sinn Féin to make further concessions if it is possible to do so.

The two critical issues are the need to maintain a seamless border in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and the imperative of getting the devolved institutions up and running again. The self-interest of the people of Northern Ireland dictates that this be done. Political representatives who are not prepared to do so are not doing the right thing by their people.