Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move:

"That Seanad Éireann: - acknowledges the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, commends all those involved in the achievement of reaching this historic political accommodation, that has transformed our island, and calls on both the Irish and British Governments, as co-guarantors, to provide joint-stewardship and continue to work to ensure its full implementation;

- welcomes the conclusion of the negotiations between the European Union and the British Government, and the securing of the agreement – the Windsor Framework;

- calls for the agreement to now be implemented, and the full economic opportunities of the agreement to be maximised for the benefit of citizens, workers, businesses and our all-Ireland economy; and

- further calls for the Executive and other democratic institutions of the Good Friday Agreement to be restored without delay in line with the wishes of the overwhelming majority of people in the North, as expressed at the Assembly election of May, 2022."

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit atá linn anocht agus roimh an díospóireacht thábhachtach a bheidh againn agus muid ag plé cúrsaí a bhaineann le Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta 25 bliain i ndiaidh shíniú an chomhaontú stairiúil sin. I thank the Minister of State for being here for this important debate. In debating the motion we will, of course, be looking back and remembering, which is only right and proper. We also will be considering where we are today. Above all else, we will, I hope, be looking forward in a positive way.

In preparing the motion, we in Sinn Féin were mindful to cast the politics of it as wide as possible. We sought to mark the achievements of 25 years ago, acknowledge the political realities of today and look towards the future with hope, optimism and realism. We wanted to broaden the frame of the debate beyond the confines of party politics and the limitations of the immediate political circumstances. We want to exert ourselves intellectually and to stand metaphorically on a platform - a rampart, if you will - that elevates the vision and the mind to provide us with a panoramic view of the political landscape that has been shaped by the 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement. We have tried to tap into, or at least reflect, the momentous and mould-breaking decisions made by the Irish and British Governments, by former Senator George Mitchell and his skilful team and by all the political parties that negotiated the finer details of the agreement.

We also want to acknowledge the part played by the people of Ireland who voted "Yes" in overwhelming numbers in support of the agreement right across Ireland. On 22 May 1998, the people of Ireland voted as one in two referendums at ballot boxes all over this nation - north, south, east and west - and resoundingly endorsed the agreement made on 10 April at Castle Buildings. On that day, people with different and competing political allegiances shared a common cause. It was a cause rooted in the fledgling peace process. It was a cause that transformed the peace process into a political process, with the electorate's hand set firmly on the instruments of change embodied in the architecture of the Good Friday Agreement, including an all-Ireland Ministerial Council, the Executive and Assembly, and the east-west parliamentary institutions. The people of Ireland had not exercised their right to vote nationwide since the general election of 1918. It was and remains a truly momentous and memorable occasion. The all-Ireland vote on the agreement was the first of its kind since partition and, in that regard, it transcended partition in a very practical way.

The sentiment that led to the people of Ireland voting in favour of the Good Friday Agreement was the same sentiment that led the people of the North to vote against Brexit. Indeed, the underlying ethos of the agreement reconstructed, recast and repositioned the politics of this island and set them in an all-Ireland context from that point forward. It was this architecture that encapsulated the historic political accommodation within Ireland between nationalist, unionist and those outside of those beliefs. It is an accommodation that has endured for 25 years despite the vagaries of political changes and the challenges that presented. The Good Friday Agreement has proved its worth as a servant of the people of this country. It has withstood the test time has set it. Its popularity and durability are because it addressed, and still addresses, the causes of the conflict and offers solutions to those causes. It institutionalised and legitimised compromise as an essential approach when faced with what hitherto were problems without solutions. The Good Friday Agreement is a problem solver, not a problem maker.

Looking back over the years, we see the need to be alert to the occasional threats the very existence of the agreement has faced. The Ireland of today does not resemble the Ireland of 1998 and before then. That is down to the changes brought about the agreement and those who put in the hard graft to achieve it. The peace and political processes have seamlessly merged and are now firmly rooted in the mainstream of democratic political life. Of course, the full potential, promise and apparatus of the Good Friday Agreement have yet to be fully realised. The two Governments, Irish and British, as co-guarantors of the agreement, need to exercise themselves to ensure its full implementation. There is no better time to do so than in its 25th anniversary year. The Good Friday Agreement has nurtured political power sharing within the North, between North and South and between east and west. It oversees human rights and equality laws. While we still await a bill of rights and an all-Ireland charter of rights, the argument has been largely won on the necessity for both. We must, however, do more in this regard.

The Good Friday Agreement ushered in a new approach to the growth of the all-Ireland economy. This approach is reflected in IBEC's latest report entitled For Peace + Prosperity.This approach is reflected in IBEC's latest report entitled For Peace and Prosperity, which is a must-read document. It tells the economic story of the dynamic all-Ireland economy, which to date has grown spontaneously and now needs a planned approach to its future growth. IBEC rightly calls for the Irish Government and the North's Executive, once it is re-established, to set up an all-Ireland economic body to plan a single economy for our island.

The Good Friday Agreement's commitment to a referendum on this country's constitutional future and its legal provisions accepting people's right to be Irish or British or both are crucial elements in the unfolding story of peaceful and democratic change towards a new, agreed and independent Ireland. For the first time in Irish history, it gave people a peaceful and democratic pathway to a free and united Ireland and conceded that Britain's claim to a part of Ireland was conditional on the consent of a majority of the people. After 25 years of the agreement, it is my view that we are reaching the time when that consent, the will of the people, should be tested in a planned, responsible and orderly way.

The Windsor Framework agreement between the EU and the British Government is welcome. It is the latest instalment in a process of stabilising the North's political institutions. It should be accepted by all parties without any further delay. The people of the North, along with the people of the rest of Ireland, are facing many social, economic and political problems. They are entitled to have the democratic institutions of the Good Friday Agreement functioning. That is what the overwhelming majority of the people of the North voted for and expressed clearly in their democratic assertion at last May's Assembly election.

Today I had the privilege to host representatives of Relatives for Justice and their GAA legacy project. Many of the Senators here this evening, including the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, were in attendance. While in many ways separate from the Good Friday Agreement, the event emphasised the reasons this Government, the political parties and both Houses of the Oireachtas must remain absolute in our opposition to the proposed legacy Bill going through Westminster. It flies in the face of the Good Friday Agreement. It undermines the Good Friday Agreement and it is a regressive, harmful legislation. Above all, it hurts all victims. It hurts the families of the victims who were reflected in today's event and all of those other victims, no matter from what community, tradition or background they come.

That is one example of the pressure the Good Friday Agreement is under, when one sees legacy legislation such as that being proposed by the British Parliament and British Government being taken forward. That is why we have to be ever alert to the threats posed to the Good Friday Agreement, whether it is the legacy Bill or whether it is the awful scenes witnessed by children and young people in Omagh just a few weeks ago when Detective Chief Inspector Caldwellwas shot. I have no doubt that all of us in this House extend our sympathies to DCI Caldwell's family. We wish him a speedy recovery and his family all the very best.

I want to acknowledge the work of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in the Oireachtas. We have undertaken a series of hearings with the architects of the agreement. It has been a retrospective process but, nevertheless, it has been a useful one. It has been a very clear reminder of the efforts, sacrifice and hard nature of those negotiations. It is a privilege for all of us to be involved in political life. It is a privilege for us to be involved in a very changed political circumstance right across this island. The onus is on us to ensure that in this, the 25th year, the agreement is protected but, above all else, it is honoured and implemented fully. Go raibh céad míle maith agaibh.