John Bruton
Question:23 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent meeting with the leadership of Sinn Féin. [19314/98]
Written Answers. - Northern Ireland Issues.
Ruairí Quinn
Question:24 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach the discussions or meetings, if any, he has had in the past week in relation to the decommissioning impasse; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19391/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 23 and 24 together.
As I said last week, I have been meeting and liaising intensively with the parties and others, including Prime Minister, Tony Blair, First Minister designate, David Trimble and Deputy First Minister designate, Séamus Mallon, SDLP leader, John Hume, Sinn Féin leader, Gerry Adams and Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam. I had a further, very useful, meeting last Friday with a Sinn Féin delegation led by Martin McGuinness. We discussed the current situation and how we can best achieve progress, and I was encouraged by the depth of engagement in the discussions between Sinn Féin and the Independent Commission.
We are all conscious of the difficulty we face on the issue of decommissioning. What we need to do is to achieve a situation where there are common understandings and common ground. There must be confidence on all sides and we are working on that. The people voted in overwhelming numbers for the British-Irish Agreement, and we all have a duty as public representatives to deliver what the people voted for. We must not allow the situation to fall behind. For our part, the Government will continue to do everything we can to make progress in implementing the Agreement in all its aspects.