I propose to take Questions Nos. 1, 2, 3, 24, 28, 30 and 49 together.
As Deputies are aware, the Framework Document was published by the Irish and British Governments yesterday.
The landmark significance of this development has already been recognised in the statements made in Dáil Éireann yesterday by the Taoiseach and others, and in the public reactions to the document.
I will be making a fuller statement to the Dáil later today at the close of the series of statements on the issue. In the meantime, I am glad to have this opportunity to deal with a number of questions raised by Deputies in relation to the Framework Document and the follow-up to its publication.
As regards participation in talks on the Framework Document, the document itself reflects agreement by the two Governments that the issues set out in it "should be examined in the most comprehensive attainable negotiations with democratically mandated political parties in Northern Ireland which abide exclusively by peaceful means and wish to join in dialogue on the way ahead".
I agree with Deputy Ray Burke that that should include all the relevant democratic parties in Northern Ireland, and that participation should be without preconditions, except of course as regards democratic commitment and mandate.
We believe also that representatives of Loyalists organisations should be facilitated in making their own contribution to the talks process, either directly to the extent of their democratic mandate, or in some appropriate form to be agreed with the other participants.
We are anxious to see comprehensive and inclusive talks underway as soon as possible. Round-table talks in the three stranded process would require the agreement of Unionist parties. I do not believe the interests of any party will be served by standing aloof from negotiations and I very much hope they will reconsider their position. It has been made clear their involvement in talks can be entirely without prejudice to their views on the Framework Document, and without preconditions.
In the first instance I would, however, envisage an intensive pattern of bilateral contacts at various levels between the parties and both Governments and, I hope also, between the parties themselves.The Government, for its part, will be seeking to engage in such dialague with all the parties willing to meet it.
The issue of constitutional balance in the Joint Framework Document has been dealt with by concentrating on the effects to be achieved on each side. It was not considered necessary or appropriate to publish with the Framework Document detailed proposals for the actual constitutional changes needed to honour those commitments. In the first place, these are a matter for the respective parliaments, and in our case, for the Oireachtas and people. It did not seem right to bind the Governments inflexibly to detailed wording on either side, before the parliaments had an opportunity to consider the matter. The constitutional proposals in the Framework Document are part of a balanced whole. It would not be helpful to have the proposals for constitutional change taken out of context of an overall agreement, or debated in isolation, as might have happened if actual wording had been published. Furthermore, given that British legislation would have to enshrine arrangements which still have to be negotiated, it would be particularly difficult, as of now, to prescribe how their commitments might be met in detail. I would not of course wish to see a situation where detailed proposals would be confined to the Irish side only.
For all these reasons, we concluded that the precise manner in which the commitments on constitutional balance in the Framework Document are to be implemented are best considered in detail by the respective parliaments, in the light of the discussion and negotiations we hope to see take place. I should emphasise that the only commitments by the Government are those on the face of the Framework Document. There are no secret understandings or side-agreements.
A North-South body with executive, harmonising and consultative functions is an important part of the accommodation envisaged in the Framework Document. I refer Deputies to paragraphs 24 to 38 of the document in particular, which set out the views of the two Governments. As has been made clear, the ultimate shape and competence of such a body depend on the outcome of negotiations.
As regards the recent leaking of material to The Times, the initial implication that the leak emanated from Dublin seems very questionable and the possibility that it might have come from any Irish governmental source is exceedingly remote. In the absence of serious indications to the contrary, we did not consider it necessary to pursue our preliminary investigations further. I have not been informed of the outcome of the internal inquiry instituted by the British Government in the wake of that leak.