Seanad debates

Monday, 10 May 2021

Good Friday Agreement: Motion

 

10:30 am

Photo of Mark WallMark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank Senators Blaney and McGreehan for tabling the motion along with the other Fianna Fáil Senators.

Those of us in the Labour Party agree with the opening statement of the motion. As political parties we must all reaffirm our commitment to the Good Friday Agreement. We will always support the full implementation of all aspects of this international agreement. The Good Friday Agreement must continue to be used as the reference document for all discussions on the current and future direction of the northern part of our island.The motion mentions strengthening co-operation between North and South. I would like to take the opportunity once again to demonstrate how such co-operation has worked in the past, is currently working and can improve in future. I am referring to the many thousands of Irish people who avail of the health services in the North each year and those from the North who come to avail of our health system.

I want to mention the PDFORRA medical assistance scheme. It was described in a recent session at the Brexit committee involving the Department of Health and the HSE as an excellent scheme. The PDFORRA medical assistance scheme was set up by PDFORRA in 2018 due to continued lack of investment and withdrawal of medical services available to members of our Defence Forces. Since 2018 the PDFORRA company has sent almost 255 members to Kingsbridge Hospital in Belfast for treatment. PDFORRA wants to extend the healthcare system to Defence Forces families such is the success of the scheme.

There is an interim scheme called the Northern Ireland planned healthcare scheme. Following the ending of the cross-border directive it has been put in place. I am told it is working well. Yet, if we are serious about North-South co-operation, then such a scheme should be put on a permanent footing because it would benefit those coming from Northern Ireland for treatment here as well.

As a member of the Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union I have listened to several discussions in recent months on the way the withdrawal has affected business and community life on both sides of the Border on this island. There is no doubt that there are continuing problems but there are unique opportunities as well.

There seems to be a new impetus to rush into a border poll. The recent Sunday IndependentKantar opinion poll should be essential reading for all those promoting this rush. The preparatory work needed for any border poll should concentrate on discussions on when one should take place. Writing in yesterday's Irish Independentour party leader, Deputy Alan Kelly, outlined our concern on the future direction of discussions on any border poll and the way any discussions on the future of Northern Ireland should go. He stated that focusing on the question of when it would take place allowed some political parties to avoid the question of what a united Ireland would look like and what we, as an island community, would be voting on. He went on to say that practical questions need to be asked and answered before any such poll takes place. What would the island's health service look like? Would our school systems work? How would we ensure an all-Ireland state that had the allegiance of all communities who live here?

In any debate on the future we must be conscious of how deeply unsettling it would be for a large number of people on our island who are deeply attached to their British identity. There are many people in the unionist community at the moment who are feeling vulnerable following the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU. It must be in the long-term interests of everyone on the island that the unionist community do not feel isolated and that they can engage with their neighbours in an open way with their British identify respected. While the Labour Party believes in an agreed united Ireland, we also believe a vast amount of preparatory work needs to be done in both jurisdictions in advance of any border poll. This is necessary to ensure that people across the island are clear on what they are voting for and that a new agreed and united Ireland would be a state accepted by all communities.

It is important to learn from the Brexit debacle in the UK. It is important to involve and prepare all communities on the island for the future, a process that will ultimately require generosity on the part of everyone on the island. It will require ambition and vision that goes far beyond what we have on this island today.

Those of us in the Labour Party welcome the funding proposed and announced by Senator McGreehan today in respect of the shared island unit. It is important that the details of this funding are further discussed and that everyone on the island has a chance of being part of it. We believe it is time to ramp up discussions between all communities North and South and work together for the future of this island. Most important, we believe these discussions and this work are vital and important to all our futures. Those of us in the Labour Party look forward to playing our part in that.

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