Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Thankfully Senator Ó Domhnaill has tabled amendment No. 30. In the absence of amendment No. 29, Sinn Féin will support amendment No. 30. We have consistently called on the Government to ensure that a vote is held on the final draft. I do not need to tell the Minister of State again that Sinn Féin engaged with every step of the process, and constructive and detailed submissions were made. We need to learn lessons from this process. If a document is to be placed on a statutory footing, it is imperative that a vote of the Oireachtas is held on it. We identified gaps in the document in the north west and in the North-South dimension. There must be a much stronger all-Ireland focus and a North-South dimension in the context of Brexit. We hear talk about how we cannot unite Ireland with a 50% plus one majority. Rather than open up the Good Friday Agreement and allow it to be entirely rewritten, we should accept that that conversation was had, namely, the democratic will of the people who supported the Good Friday Agreement. We should have confidence in getting buy-in and greater consensus on a united Ireland project, a huge European project of our time with international buy- in. We believe a much stronger focus, an all-Ireland focus, is needed. Symbolic gestures are welcome and necessary but actions speak louder than words. This national development plan does not go far enough on the North-South dimension. I have spoken previously about the failure to address socio-economic disadvantage. We will be supporting amendment No. 30.