Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. The Seanad is at one on this, which is welcome. I know it will send an encouraging and necessary political message tonight. When Senator Joe O'Reilly was vacating the position of Leas-Chathaoirleach, I called him a sage because he made many very worthwhile points. He also acknowledged Fr. Des Wilson. It is appropriate for us to remember the key players. However, very many people were involved in this process, too many to name here. Fr. Des Wilson and people like him did not just help initiate a process back then, but they then carried on their lives trying to embed the peace, and trying to make peace, justice and human rights a reality. That is my experience. As a Belfast city councillor, often I stood at interfaces and watched people from my community, my side - I hate that kind of terminology - cross the interface to deal with people from the other side. Those were the people who worked the Good Friday Agreement in the real sense. All those people, such as Fr. Alec Reid, need to be commended.

Senator Gavan mentioned the international context in all this. It is important for us to remember that throughout the world people look to the Good Friday Agreement as a model for conflict resolution and peacebuilding. Still to this day, for all of its faults and despite all the aspects that remain unimplemented, people who were involved in those negotiations travel all over the world to try to bring peace and human rights. The Minister of State is correct that there are people alive today in Ireland because of the Good Friday Agreement. It is also fair to say that there are people alive in other parts of the world because that model has been replicated.

Regarding the unsung heroes, the Minister of State, Senator Boyhan and our BIPA plenary spoke about the important role of women. Last week's meeting of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement with Ms Bronagh Hinds echoed this sentiment. There would have been no negotiations or Good Friday Agreement without women. The peace would not have been embedded and delivered without women. Many of the people I am talking about on the interface were women leaders who crossed that divide and then, in turn, gave some of the people who were carrying on a good swift kick up the backside to get them home.

In this week and in particular on this day, International Women's Day, I reflect on the iconic image of Albert Reynolds, John Hume and Gerry Adams in front of Government Buildings for their first engagement. In the video footage of that, behind John Hume's shoulder can be seen a small red-headed woman, physically small but mighty in stature, our late friend Rita O'Hare, whom we buried yesterday and who was a crucial component of the republican leadership in moving peace forward. I take the opportunity to acknowledge Rita O'Hare given the week and the day that is in it.

Jim Gibney who works with me in my office and who was there at Castle Buildings for the negotiations in the run-up to the Good Friday Agreement texted me to say that tonight's debate caught a mood. It is important that we do not waste the fact that there has been such a collegial debate. Following the motion, we need to tell people that the united view of the Seanad is that we want to remember the Good Friday Agreement, but we also want to see it fully realised. We acknowledge the hard work to get to the Windsor Framework but we also understand and appreciate that it is necessary to mitigate the worst excesses of Brexit.

We need to redouble our efforts because we are by no means under the same pressure that the people 25 years ago were under. If they could do that then, despite all the disagreements we may have day-to-day, it is my firm and committed view that following tonight's motion with that mood that Jim Gibney texted me about, we can play our role in ensuring we assist the people ultimately responsible - the people elected in the North - to get the institutions back up and running.

I welcome the Minister of State's commitment to the North-South institutions. It is important that the Irish Government restates that. I do not prioritise any of these issues over any others either. However, we have suffered as a result of those institutions not being fully functioning and not fully implemented. I thank everyone for their support.