Vol. 237 No. 2
asked the Taoiseach if co-operation between the Six County Prime Minister and himself will continue in the future; if development plans of interest to both Governments will continue and be further sponsored; and if the exchanges of opinion between members of the two Governments will continue in the interests of national progress and general developments.
2.
asked the Taoiseach whether the speech made by the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries in Letterkenny on 8th November last now represents Government policy on relations with the Six Counties.
3.
asked the Taoiseach whether the recent speech of the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries dealing with north-south relations represents Government thinking on this outstanding national problem.
4.
asked the Taoiseach if he intends to hold cross-border talks at ministerial level in the near future.
5.
asked the Taoiseach whether in view of the criticism by the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries of the effect of cross-border ministerial contacts and discussions he proposes to discontinue such contacts.
6.
asked the Taoiseach whether the policy established in the past by his predecessor of holding cross-border talks with Mr. O'Neill is to be discontinued.
7.
asked the Taoiseach if he will ensure that all possible encouragement is given to those who are struggling for civil rights in the Six County area.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 7 together.
I would refer the Deputies to my statement on Monday, the 11th instant —copies of which are now available in the Library.
The Taoiseach is not serious. We all read the speech he made in which he gently rebuked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, but does he not recall that on the very night that he was administering the rebuke to him, the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries delivered a speech which appeared to be contrary to the Taoiseach's policy on and approach to the North?
Would the Taoiseach indicate—because it is not clear to Deputies or to the country— whether he proposes to continue the system of cross-border talks and discussions in the light of the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries' criticism of the effect of these discussions up to this?
May I take the two supplementaries together? In regard to the speech of the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries to which Deputy Corish referred, I regret that the Minister made it. It was not made with my prior approval but, nevertheless, it was —taking up Deputy O'Higgins's supplementary—an assessment of the value of the contacts that have taken place in the past four years; and I think they are capable of subjective assessment and there can be differences of opinion, even within a Cabinet, as to how valuable they were. I regard them as very valuable, as opening up new avenues of contact between people north and south, bringing people closer together so that we can eliminate past dissensions and ultimately appraise the situation of Partition when these barriers are removed.
Would the Taoiseach say who in the Government now is spokesman on the matters of Partition and civil rights in the North? Are we to assume that the approach of the Taoiseach is to continue talks with the Six County Government and its various Ministers, or are we to have a different approach as per the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries in which the matter of Partition will be raised at the United Nations or that there will be a special conference on Partition sought with the British Government?
I think my speech on last Monday left nobody in any doubt as to what the Government attitude was on north-south relations and towards Partition generally. That will continue to be the Government's attitude. I have spoken on behalf of the Government and that is what the Government think. In regard to Deputy O'Higgins's supplementary, I indicated in my speech that I hoped that as a result of my contact with Mr. Wilson and Mr. Wilson's conversations with Captain O'Neill, the civil rights prospects would now become brighter and that the discrimination would be abolished; and that once we saw that was forthcoming we could re-establish north-south contacts. As soon as I see anything worthwhile and reasonably capable of coming from them, I shall be very glad to continue them.
Can we take it that the bogus republicanism and the political buffoonery of the Minister for Agriculture——
——his base attack on the Leader of the Republican Labour Party, Mr. Gerry Fitt, who has done more to bring civil rights——
You are not fit to wipe his boots, you or your whole administration. You attack Gerry Fitt for coming across the Border.
If Deputy O'Leary will give me a chance, I wish to say that I have nothing but respect for the sincerity and depth of feeling of the Minister for Agriculture——
What about Gerry Fitt? He was in Derry. Where were you?
Mr. Fitt's remarks about my intervention on the issue of Partition were an impertinence on his part rather than his suggestion that it was an impertinence on my part.
Question No. 8.
For four years you have been talking but your administration did nothing about civil rights.
It is far easier to destroy than to build. For heaven's sake do not let this sense of frustration deviate us from the path we are following. Remarks such as these from Deputy O'Leary will not add anything——
You and your 1926 Republic.
Let us not throw commonsense to the winds.
