Vol. 399 No. 1
5 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Taoiseach if he has received a request for a meeting from Christopher McGimpsey, Honorary Secretary of the Ulster Unionist Party; if he intends to meet with Mr. McGimpsey; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I have indicated on many occasions my willingness to meet, without preconditions, representatives of the Unionist tradition to hear their concerns at first hand. In line with this policy, I will, of course, respond favourably to the request referred to by the Deputy which, I understand, is to be made shortly.
Can I take it, therefore, that a request for a meeting has not arrived on the Taoiseach's desk?
I do not like to give details of personal correspondence of that kind but when it is necessary, I will convey the information to the House.
I hope the Taoiseach will not be excluding any subject from the agenda in a manner that might make it difficult for talks to take place.
6 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Taoiseach if he will outline the matters discussed with the delegation from the SDLP at their meeting on 11 May 1990; if the current prospects for political progress in Northern Ireland and movement towards democratic devolved Government were discussed; if he has had any report from the British Government on the meeting which took place on the same day between the Northern Ireland Secretary and the leaders of the Official Unionist and Democratic Unionist parties; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Government and the SDLP meet on a regular basis to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern relating to Northern Ireland; at the meeting on 11 May, a range of issues — including the prospects for political progress — was discussed. It will be appreciated that details of such discussions are confidential.
The meeting between the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the leaders of the UUP and DUP on 11 May took place in the context of continuing efforts to get a process of political dialogue underway; there is close contact between the two Governments on all aspects of this process. Of course, as the Deputy knows a further meeting took place in London yesterday.
At the meeting with the SDLP can I take it that there was some coming together on common ideas in relation to progress in Northern Ireland during the series of talks that have just ended? Do the talks with the SDLP meet in any way the developments that have taken place in the past 24 hours with the Unionist parties?
I do not understand the import of the Deputy's question but I would like to repeat what I said here on a previous occasion, these talks and discussions are at a particularly sensitive stage. Indeed we should all agree, indeed I thought we had all agreed, that we would refrain from any comments that might in any way be other than constructive.
A Cheann Comhairle, may I respond to that point? The Taoiseach will find it difficult to find comments from me in this House on this matter that could be regarded in any way as being non constructive. Can the Taoiseach tell the House that no decisions have been reached between himself, the Government and the SDLP that would in any way be an obstacle to the current optimistic progress that is taking place?
I do not think that anybody on this side or on the SDLP side would wish to be obstructive in any way.
Without casting any aspersions on the ability of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to report to him on the content of his discussions with the Unionist representatives, would the Taoiseach agree that this indirect form of contact is no substitute for face to face discussion? I ask the Taoiseach to use all the ingenuity both constitutional and diplomatic available to him to clear away whatever obstacles exist to direct contact between himself and representatives of his Government with representatives of the Unionists.
I had thought I had done everything I could in that regard.
One hopes that what the Taoiseach has done so far will prove fruitful but there have been so many disappointments in the past that the Taoiseach might agree that one can never be sure that one has established such a channel until it is firmly in place. May I, therefore, ask the Taoiseach to continue to use whatever ingenuity is available to him in terms of the interpretation of existing agreements and so forth to ensure that an open channel is permanently established between himself and the Unionsts in view of the fact that this was the normal practice in the past and one needs to restore it?
I have already assured the House that the Government are doing everything they can to facilitate the process of discussion.
In view of the sensitivity of the issues concerned and the talks that are in progress, may I ask the Taoiseach to take the opportunity to brief the parties in this House on the progress to date? This would perhaps avoid the necessity to put questions in the House on this matter at this sensitive time?
The questions we are coming to deal with now are questions nominated for priority, to which a rigid time limit applies.
