John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like Senator Blaney and others, I met Lord Caine as a member of the Good Friday committee and a member of the British-Irish friendship group recently. When we were downstairs, beneath this Chamber, speaking to Lord Caine, 95% of the discussion was about the legacy Act - rightly so - and how horrific we as Irish parliamentarians find it to be. I pointed out to him that I was sitting at one end of the room and John Finucane, the Member of Parliament for Belfast North, was sitting on the other end and that I disagree entirely with most of his politics. With all due respect to Senator Gavan, I am sure he will agree with that in terms of my outlook on Sinn Féin - and its outlook on me equally, might I add. I said, however, that on this issue Mr. Finucane and I were utterly at one and that I agreed entirely with what he had said and he agreed entirely with what I had said. I said there was a microcosm in the room in that, if Mr. Finucane and I are on the same page on this issue, and if every political party in Northern Ireland is on the same side as well, surely that tells you in some shape or form what we as parliamentarians in this country think about the legacy Bill. I felt that Mr. Finucane and I being in the same room that day provided an idea of that. I told Lord Caine as well that my political tradition and outlook come from the Redmondite tradition. I value the relationship we have with our nearest neighbours. I want us to have a very good, strong working relationship with our nearest neighbours. That is the political heritage I have always come from. Yet I look at this and say that the relationship between our countries is at an all-time low. I look at the reception that was given to Queen Elizabeth when she came here ten, 11 or 12 years ago, I look at how Martin McGuinness met her, I know how much it meant to the unionist community that that happened, and I wonder if that would even be able to happen in today's political climate - not from our side whatsoever because I know our side would still give the same reception to any visiting dignitary. I wonder, however, if Britain would be able to provide that same level of outreach and friendship towards us. I do not think that would be the case, and that worries me.

It worries me because it has happened for a few reasons. Brexit was obviously the light that lit the torch, for want of a better word. There were the successive Governments of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, which were both car crashes in terms of an Irish-English friendship and relationship. Rishi Sunak seems to have got that back on track a little, which is what I had thought would happen. I had thought this legacy Act would be shelved or something would happen to it. Then I see that the Bill was fully supported at every stage.

When I was with Lord Caine a month ago, I asked him, "What is the process behind this Bill? What is the politics behind it? Why are you guys, as a Government, after 13 years in power since 2010, now deciding that this Bill has to happen at this point in time?" He said to me that it had been a long-standing commitment of all Governments since 1998 and that the current Government was going to do something about it. That is all hogwash, however, because three days previously, at the Tory Party conference in Manchester, Chris Heaton-Harris gave a very clear outline of what the politics behind this were:

This Conservative Government recently passed the Northern Ireland Troubles ... Act.

And whilst it delivers on a manifesto commitment we made to our Veterans ...

There it was in black and white four days previously, in Manchester, in front of the Tory Party conference. What is really sickening about that, if I may be quite frank, is the fact that the Tory party, for political survival in the UK, the prospect of which is virtually non-existent as it is goosed, but for its own perceived political survival, is trying to play to a cohort of a very small political demographic in the United Kingdom that it thinks may vote for the Conservative Party, that is, military veterans. Imagine being willing to sacrifice the political unity and political stability of Northern Ireland to appeal to a very small political demographic, not even in Wales or Scotland but in England, in English constituencies, and in a small subset of English constituencies at that. It is the most disgusting thing I have ever seen and the most transparent ploy for votes I have ever seen a British Government engage in. It is sickening to listen to comments such as those and similar made in a gruffer way by the veterans' affairs minister, Johnny Mercer. I know that Mr. Mercer, as someone who formerly served there, has his own view, but it is horrible that families in Northern Ireland who have every right to seek justice through courts of law will now have that hope wiped from them because of the politics being played by the Tory Party. That is my view on the legacy Bill and I was keen to put it on the record of this House because I have not had the opportunity to do so previously, although I have made my views known in private meetings, as I did with Lord Caine two months ago. I am therefore happy to take this opportunity now to put my views on the legacy Act on the record here.

I commend what Hilary Benn, the new Northern Ireland shadow secretary, said recently on his visit to Northern Ireland, which was that the Labour Party would do everything to repeal this Act if it were to get into government but that it would have to be replaced with something else. At least that is a very good key indicator that the Labour Party is very much at one not just with the Irish Government but with all political parties on the island of Ireland. Those are my views on the legacy Bill and where we stand in that regard.

As to where we are with the Windsor Framework agreement, I commented in this House a number of months ago that Northern Ireland is now in an enviable, unique economic position whereby it is able to trade with both the EU Single Market and the British internal market, so now Northern Ireland can be held up as a beacon as the place to come and do business in. I am from Dundalk, and that will be beneficial to my area because businesses will be attracted to south Armagh and Newry and south Down, and that spillover will come across the Border, the same way as with Senator Blaney and Derry and Donegal. A rising tide lifts all boats. That economic attraction and business and jobs that will flow into Northern Ireland as a result of the Windsor Framework will be very beneficial to everyone living in a Border area on either side of the Border. The Border area for the past 40 years, really until the last ten or 15 years, has been an economic wasteland at times because of everything that went on. It is good, therefore, to see that from that perspective.

However, what makes it more frustrating that that economic advantage cannot be pushed home at this point in time is the lack of an effective Executive running in Stormont. I understand the politics behind that in terms of the principle of consent. In 1998 it was the case that we would have to have everyone on board, but in this day and age, in 2023, it is just unacceptable that a democracy in the western hemisphere, for want of a better term, is able consistently over the past ten years, through various periods, not to have a functioning Executive and a functioning democracy.The Tánaiste said that while the Government here and the political parties in the North are to be complimented for their patience over the past 18 months, patience is wearing thin. That is the case and it is important that we get people back into the assembly and have a functioning government in Northern Ireland not only for the people of Northern Ireland but for the island of Ireland.