Mary Harney
Question:2 Miss Harney asked the Taoiseach if he sought to involve representatives of the Unionist community as part of the Government's representation at St. Patrick's Day ceremonies in the United States. [5453/95]
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - St. Patrick's Day Ceremonies.
I undertook on 14 February to consider the suggestion of Deputy Harney to invite community representatives from Northern Ireland to accompany Ministers on visits abroad for St. Patrick's Day. There would have been considerable difficulty in arranging for the inclusion of balanced representation at the various events. In the circumstances I did not proceed with the suggestion, although I appreciate the Deputy's constructive spirit in putting it forward.
I am, however, happy to note that the Minister for Tourism and Trade's delegation in New York worked in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board in promoting tourism to Ireland and I look forward to further such joint endeavour to our mutual advantage.
I note the Taoiseach said he did not proceed with the suggestion because he believed he could not get a balanced representation. How did he seek to ascertain a balanced representation?
If I were to bring representatives of political parties with me I would have to start by inviting Deputy Harney, Deputy Ahern and others to come. The same applies to all Ministers. The next step presumably would be to invite representatives from the Unionist and Nationalist parties in Northern Ireland and the delegation would be cumbersome. There is value in what the Deputy said if we can find appropriate events and occasions to include Northern representatives. I welcome, in particular, the fact that all the parties in Northern Ireland were invited to the dinner in the White House which I attended. I was very pleased that not only were Nationalist parties represented but the Alliance Party in the person of its leader, Dr. John Alderdice and the Ulster Democratic Party in the person of its representatives, including Mr. Gary McMichael. That is good and something I would encourage.
In so far as we can do anything in this jurisdiction, we hope to achieve the same results.
Does the Taoiseach accept that the only effort made to bring representatives from the communities in Northern Ireland to the United States was made by the US and not by this Government? Did he consider bringing community representatives, not necessarily political representatives, following his commitment on 14 February in the House?
The Deputy's question of 14 February referred to representatives of both communities in Northern Ireland. I think in that sense it means political representatives as elections are the means of creating the fact of representation. There would have been practical difficulties in pursuing the proposal which was made without notice by the Deputy at Question Time. Rather than simply saying that I would not consider it, I undertook to consider it which I did. I came across practical difficulties in the Deputy's proposal to include them on all ministerial trips abroad, but there are other forms of occasion which we should be looking at constantly where it would be possible to include community representatives of one kind or another from Northern Ireland in activities sponsored by the Government abroad. I will ask my colleagues to look at this in a constructive spirit.
Apart from saying he would consider my proposal when responding to my question, I regret that the Taoiseach did nothing about it and did not seek to establish whether he might not have got community representatives to accompany him. If Gary McMichael had not been invited we would never have known whether he would have accepted the Taoiseach's invitation.
The Taoiseach referred to the attendance of Dr. Alderdice and Gary McMichael at the White House festivities. Is he concerned that the media coverage of events in the White House and the trip to America was almost exclusively given to Mr. Adams who got more coverage than he? Does he accept that there are deeper reasons which we need to address because it has nothing to do with the democratic mandate?
We are having an extension of the question.
The Taoiseach referred to the visit of Dr. Alderdice and Gary McMichael. Is he concerned that the coverage of the visit to America was almost exclusively given to Mr. Adams?
There are questions on the Order Paper which may be more appropriate to this.
I reject Deputy Harney's suggestion that I did nothing about her proposal at Question Time. I undertook to consider it and I did. The fact that I did not find it practical at the end of the day does not mean I have done nothing about it. I considered it carefully but found it to be impractical. However, I took the step of contacting the Minister for Tourism and Trade who was also attending functions in the United States and he decided to invite Lord Rathcavan, chairman of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, to take part. That was not possible but Mr. Henderson, its chief executive took part. That was a direct practical result of the exchange which the Deputy and I had on 14 February.
I reject the ungracious remarks of Deputy Harney in suggesting I had done nothing about it as that is not the case.
Does the Taoiseach consider the investment conference as a suitable occasion to invite representatives from Northern Ireland as they normally work together on economic matters and have done so on the Structural Funds and other European funds? I think the conference presents an opportunity where there would not be animosity to get people to play a role.
The United States authorities are the hosts of this conference, it should not be a conference with a great deal of political representation but a conference where concrete business deals are made between people who can create networks between themselves. That is the emphasis I will be placing on it and I would not be concerned with the political affiliation of any of the people participating as long as they had the capacity to put job creation deals together.