Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Tánaiste. We are particularly glad the Tánaiste is back safe after the journey he had last night. I thank the Tánaiste for the speech he has just made. It was quite a strong speech. The Tánaiste was very clear on his position on the legacy Act. My colleagues and I are very pleased about this as we await a positive outcome from a court case taken before the European Court of Human Rights.

We are in a very difficult period trying to get an Executive up and running in Northern Ireland. Recently I attended the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Kildare. It was also attended by the Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Steve Baker. We all need to be careful about our language and our approach in dealing with issues North and South. I found his language and approach to be somewhat inflammatory and a little bit reckless to say the least with regard to any proposed referendum. I know this is tough language to use but I thought it was inflammatory and a little bit reckless. In anything he was asked about, there was a little bit of an air of this throughout his contributions. I am very disappointed about this. We discussed the legacy Act. I outlined to him the three meetings I had with Jonathan Caine from September last year until June this year and how dissatisfied I was as a political representative at how the various views I brought to the table at those meetings were not addressed. I also expressed how the people of Northern Ireland feel let down and how victims feel like giving up at this stage. They have been left in a very precarious situation and the Irish Government has no option but to try to look after their interests in the case. I hope this is how it turns out.

It is important, particularly in the Republic and even from a Government perspective, that we lead with a united front. We have to have the empathy that is at the heart of the shared island approach. This has to be led by the Taoiseach, who has to consider how he uses his remarks on Northern Ireland and how we share this island. It is very important that he leads in a proper manner that is reflective of this. After all, the shared island unit is in his Department and his words really matter. Unionists do listen to everything we say. It is only in recent days that I have heard of unionist groups taking a step back from youth diversion programmes in Northern Ireland because of some remarks made in the past. This is regretful.

As politicians in the South, we need to do everything we can to work at a greater level with politicians in Northern Ireland and reach out more to them. It is only by doing so that we break down the barriers. If we have learned anything from the Good Friday Agreement it is that politicians, taoisigh and Governments worked for many decades to get us to the stage where it was achieved. It was not done by talking up a united Ireland. It was to the contrary. It was about building trust and relationships. Organisations such as the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly are there to build these relationships and they have helped to do so. These relationships are very important. They are as important today as they were then.I am very glad the Tánaiste said what he said about bringing back the devolved Government in Stormont because there are so many outstanding issues that need to be addressed in Northern Ireland for the people of Northern Ireland. One of the more recent ones relates to the algae bloom that developed over the summer on Lough Neagh. I cannot but ask whether that is as a result of Brexit and Britain leaving the EU. Have standards dropped? Is there a body now responsible for putting a plan in place to ensure this lough, which is the source for 40% of the drinking water for people of Northern Ireland, is brought back to the standard required to be in line with the EU directives that no longer need to be complied with? Work needs to be done in co-operation with the stakeholders, such as farmers around the lough, on the sources of water coming into the lough and in the towns near the lough which need sanitary services to ensure that raw effluent is not going into the lake, thereby contributing further to the difficulties there.

Is there anything the Irish Government can do? I put this question to Steve Baker in Kildare. He readily said that this was a devolved issue and had nothing to do with him. That is not good enough for a representative of the British Government which should have more respect for the people of Northern Ireland. He knows there is no assembly in place so there should be some efforts. I ask the Tánaiste to take it upon himself to see if anything can be done. In the absence of Stormont, can the Irish Government negotiate with the British Government in the short term to find a way of addressing the needs of Lough Neagh to maintain the quality of the water source into the future?

Given all that has gone on in the recent past as regards legacy, it is important that we send a strong message to unionists that we in the South want to work with them and want them to work with us. We do not want to be driven by any recent revision of history but rather to look to our history, for example, the United Irishmen of the past. Who is standing at their graves? Who is remembering them? That is a history of Protestants in this country standing up for the rights of Catholics. Protestantism and unionism have had a much greater role in Irish society over many hundreds of years than people want to know. They should be proud of that history and be proud to come forward now and work with us politicians down south. Let us share this island together. Let us make sure that future generations have opportunities that we can be proud of. We need to build an Ireland that is about all creeds and identities. I would like to say much more. Perhaps I will have another opportunity to do so in future.