Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On Tuesday, 20 July, in a response to a written question, the Taoiseach stated, "Work on its [the shared island unit's] structure, staffing and work programme is under way and I hope the unit will start this work in the coming weeks." In all of that, we have not been provided with an actual start date. We are all very familiar with the sentiment and the objectives of the Good Friday Agreement and that is why we have an existing committee on the Good Friday Agreement. The Good Friday Agreement, of course, among many other things, did not and does not settle the constitutional question; it actually asks us the constitutional question. When we couple that with our own constitutional obligations in this State to prepare for constitutional change, I do not see any evidence of this in either the very vague and opaque responses we have received in regard to this mysterious unit or the answer provided to me this morning.

As I said, I support this unit and it is very important that we all support this unit. However, we cannot just continue to support the sentiment of a unit and we need to see the Government come forward with tangible plans. The Good Friday Agreement, which was rightly lauded again this morning and is something we all cherish and hold very dear, is now, live and imminently, under assault. It is being torn up, across many of its stages, in the British Houses of Parliament and in No. 10, Downing Street. Never before has the need for the work as outlined by the Chief Whip been so necessary but there is a huge expectation, and a great deal of concern out there among people, that the Irish Government needs to be doing more.

One way to do that is to actually begin the work of this unit. The Government has the consensus and it has the support. There are very few things the Government can talk about which garner such universal, cross-party support. In thanking the Minister of State for coming to the House, and in reasserting my party's and other parties' support for this unit, it is crucial, particularly given the dynamic we are in at the moment, that we start to hear tangible, practical timelines. We need to get this right, and I appreciate there is much work involved. However, this was a Government commitment, not a Sinn Féin promise. This was in the programme for Government. In July, the Taoiseach told us he expected the work to begin within a few weeks. We will debate a very important Fianna Fáil motion tonight on the internal market Bill and the threat being posed to the Good Friday Agreement, and so much more on this island, as a result of what is happening in Britain. Everyone will accept there needs to be a clear, concise timeline so we can get an understanding of when this unit will begin its work and what its work will actually mean, and then we, as Oireachtas Members, can start the process of assisting and being involved and engaged with that work.