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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 5 Jul 2017

Vol. 957 No. 1

Ceisteanna - Questions

Departmental Strategy Statements

Brendan Howlin

Question:

1. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach his plans to update his Department's statement of strategy. [29971/17]

Gerry Adams

Question:

2. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he plans to update his Department's strategy statement 2016-2019. [31238/17]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.

In accordance with the Public Service Management Act 1997 a new three-year statement of strategy will be prepared by my Department within six months. The current Statement of Strategy 2016 - 2019 reflects the role of the Department which is, to support the Taoiseach and the Government, to develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland’s interests abroad, to implement the programme for Government and to build a better future for Ireland and all her citizens.

The strategy statement is aligned to the Government’s key priorities and policies and it sets out the following six strategic priorities: providing excellent support services for the Taoiseach and Government; ensuring Ireland has sustainable economy; helping to ensure that Government policies and services support a socially inclusive and fair society; ensuring that Ireland maintains strong relationships in Europe and the World; ensuring the best possible outcomes for Ireland in relation to Brexit - this, of course, includes protecting the common travel area and the peace process; and planning for the future in the context of all of the many uncertainties arising in the international environment. I have already set out to the House a number priorities across Government, including meeting the challenges of Brexit and managing the evolving relationships across Europe and on these Islands.

It is also vital that Ireland’s public finances remain on a firm footing as preparations continue for Budget 2018 and a new capital infrastructure plan for Ireland is finalised. Protecting Ireland’s growing economy is critical to ensuring Ireland is an equal society, creating equal opportunities for all its people to participate and share in our prosperity.

The new statement of strategy will draw from these areas and outline the priorities to guide the work of my Department for the coming three years. Following its submission to Government, the strategy will be published and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. The current Department of the Taoiseach strategy statement was only published in February. The Taoiseach indicated the areas which are encompassed by it. What I would like to know now is what changes, in general terms, he intends to bring about in advance of the publication of the formal document.

The Taoiseach has indicated a number of changes that he wants to bring about in the Government. He has moved responsibility for Brexit to the Minister and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and he has also appointed an additional super junior Minister. Yesterday, the Taoiseach said that he has reduced the number of Cabinet committees and that he wants a special focus on health. In regard to the revised strategy statement, does the Taoiseach intend to retain the six strategic priorities identified by his predecessor, including planning for the future, Brexit, strong relationships with Europe and the world, a better society, a sustainable economy and support the Taoiseach and Government? Does the Taoiseach intend to broaden those priorities and will there be a particular strategic focus on health?

The Taoiseach also mentioned the need for investment in infrastructure. Will there be a particular emphasis on infrastructure in the new strategy statement? In terms of the structure of Government, a considerable amount of time has passed since I wrote to the Taoiseach on the issue of the remuneration packages for the Ministers of State who attend at Cabinet. Has the Taoiseach received advice from the Attorney General on that matter - it is not complicated - and what is his intention in that regard?

I have not received the advice yet but I also have not followed up on the matter. I will do that because I would like the matter concluded before the House rises. A new strategy statement is required because the Public Service Management Act requires that any time there is a change of Taoiseach or a change of Minister in any Department a new strategy statement must be produced within six months. I am not necessarily sure that it is a good idea that every time there is a change of Minister or a reshuffle a new strategy statement must be produced. I believe the current strategy statement is quite good. It sets out the six over-arching areas that the Department of the Taoiseach is committed to dealing with. I do not plan to deepen it in sectoral terms. We have a programme for Government and I do not think it is necessary to have different sectoral policies in the new strategy statement.

I have not seen the draft of the new strategy statement: it may not be prepared yet. I do not plan it to be a major departure from the strategy that exists already.

I take the Taoiseach's point in terms of the changing of strategy statements because what is needed is a sustained focus to deliver change. What is necessary also is a strategy statement that amounts to more than aspiration and that moves beyond rhetoric. The Taoiseach mentioned a better Ireland. That is fantastic. We can all sign up for that. The issue is whether Government and the Office of An Taoiseach has the grit and the imagination to make that happen. As is often said, to make an omelette one has to break some eggs. To make Ireland better will require more than breaking eggs, it will require considerable effort and focus.

In regard to the reference in the strategy to the need to devote time and resources to planning for the future, funding and reform of the health service, it is disappointing that the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, has indicated that he will, in a piecemeal way, adopt the report produced by the all-party Committee on the future of Healthcare. The crisis in the service is evident. The waiting lists are soaring, exhausted staff are fleeing the services in their droves, it seems and there is a lack of capacity in the Ambulance Service. The figures from the INMO reveal that in the first months of this year hospitals recorded the highest levels of overcrowding since record keeping commenced. I know that the Taoiseach can and will cite the exceptions but that is shocking. What does he, as Taoiseach, a former Minister for Health and a medical professional, propose to do about this?

As Taoiseach, I am head of the Government and it is my responsibility to drive the implementation of the programme for Government. The programme for Government includes an extensive section on health. It is my responsibility to work with the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, to ensure that it is implemented and that is exactly what I intend to do.

In terms of the Sláintecare report, the Minister, Deputy Harris, has been tasked with providing a reasoned response to it. That should be done by September or October. Proper costings and due diligence need to be done. Having read the report, it seems to be silent or open on a funding model. It does not propose a particular new funding model. It just suggests that the health service should be funded from a number of sources, some of which it is already funded by.

The Deputy mentioned the trolley numbers for the first six months of this year, which once again demonstrate the enormity and scale of the challenge ahead of us to turn our health service around and do that in a sustainable way. I had a very useful meeting with the Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Secretary General of his Department last week, and we are going to try to develop some plans to turn things around. However, what is often interesting in these matters is not the exceptions but the stark contrasts in performance from hospital to hospital, to which the Deputy drew attention. These are figures produced by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation which show that, for example, in Beaumont Hospital the number of people on trolleys is at its lowest since records began. The same applies to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown and St. Vincent's Hospital has the second lowest number. We need to ask the fundamental question: why is there such an enormous variation in performance? One of the worst performing hospitals, for example, very disappointingly, is St. Luke's in Kilkenny, which has a new emergency department and many additional staff, yet Beaumont Hospital, which has had no extra beds or staff and is serving an ageing population, has had its best performance in ten years. Connolly Hospital, my local hospital, which is located in an area with a rapidly expanding population, has had the lowest trolley numbers since the nurses started counting them. That tells us a story about the health service. The constant solution that has been put forward is that it is all about putting more staff and more resources into the same system, but clearly that is only one part of the solution, because we see demonstrably that good management-----

The Taoiseach has no answer for me.

-----and clinical leadership make a huge change.

During last week's Taoiseach's Questions, the Taoiseach said he was still looking around the Taoiseach's Department in terms of policy advisers and so on and that he would take his time to decide how to change things there, and the same was suggested regarding Cabinet committees. How long does he believe that process will take in terms of the Cabinet committees and the restructuring of the Department?

As the Taoiseach said, the current statement of strategy was published in February. It is interesting that it promised a full human resource analysis by the end of the following month. Four months on, can the Taoiseach tell us if this has been done and what actions, if any, have been implemented to make sure that there is enough staffing in critical roles within his Department? The outgoing strategy promised a full human resource analysis. It also lists six priority areas for the Department's work. Surprisingly one of them is not work concerning Northern Ireland. It is arguable, and we have argued that over the past six years, that the disengagement of the Taoiseach, and his predecessor and Ministers, from Northern Ireland has been extremely damaging to the process. Certainly there have been concerns as to whether to the Taoiseach's office has the capacity any more to take the leadership role which previous taoisigh took in regard to the Good Friday Agreement. There was a point, for example, where the Northern division was a separate division in the Taoiseach's Department, it is now a section of a larger division which is dominated by Brexit and European Union matters. In terms of the new strategy, will the Taoiseach consider restoring the status and priority given to Northern Ireland in his Department? What measures does he propose to take to reverse the drift of recent years? It seems the template that is the Good Friday Agreement must remain the fundamental evolutionary framework for the three sets of relationship between Britain and Ireland, the North and the South and within both communities. I think there is an attempt by a number of forces and groups, by pushing other agendas, to undermine the essence of the Good Friday Agreement, which is the template to have proper parity of esteem between both communities in the North and the traditions and various issues that relate to those traditions.

The Cabinet this morning approved the establishment of new Cabinet committees. There will be five Cabinet committees, lettered A, B, C, D and E, one covering broadly economic policy; one covering broadly public services and social policy, one dealing with Brexit and European affairs, one dealing principally with infrastructure and housing and a fifth one dealing principally with health. We are going to see how that works for six months and then make changes at that point if any need to be made.

I had a chance to meet all the staff in the Department yesterday, albeit briefly but individually, to see what they do in their different areas. The Department of the Taoiseach is quite a small one and only 100 or so people work in it. People may imagine that the Department that co-ordinates matters and runs Government is much bigger than it really is. We will need to consider in the time ahead which areas need to be beefed up and perhaps Northern Ireland is one of those areas.

I very much agree with the Deputy that the Good Friday Agreement is and should remain the framework by which we manage relations in Northern Ireland, both North and South and east and west. It was agreed and passed in a referendum in this Republic by 97% of the people and in Northern Ireland by 71% of the people. It is not just a 50% plus one mandate, it is a set of relationships that have been agreed in both parts of the island by big majorities and by both communities. I do not believe there should be any significant change in the constitutional status or constitutional arrangements in Northern Ireland unless there is a degree of support from both communities.

I call Deputy Boyd Barrett. I point out that we are encroaching on the time for questions. Therefore, I ask the Deputy to brief.

Sure. Will the new strategy statement acknowledge the disastrous failure of the housing strategy pursued during the past six years? That is not a rhetorical use of the word "disastrous". It is a self-evident fact that the strategy that has been pursued has failed to an extraordinary level. It has resulted in almost 3,000 people being homeless and 7,000 people in total, an enormous number, rotting on housing lists for close to two decades, in some cases, and there is no sign of any of this improving. It would be refreshing for anybody in politics and certainly for a Government to acknowledge a mistake, to say we got it wrong and that we need to radically shift focus and strategy in this area and, in particular, to recognise that the plan to lure in real estate investment trusts, vulture funds, property speculators and developers, through various incentives and tax breaks, has been an utter failure. I do not think we will ever grasp the extent to which it has been a failure in terms of the taxes forgone, but there can be little doubt of the enormous amount of money that has been made by those people. If we consider the results in terms of housing delivery, there was a 0.4% increase in the quantum of housing during those years and the situation has been disastrous in terms of housing and the homelessness. Will there be a recognition of that in the strategy statement and a consideration of a radical shift in strategy towards public provision of housing?

The strategy statement will be a strategy statement for the Department of the Taoiseach. As there is a new Minister in the Custom House, there will also need to be a new strategy statement for the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government. I imagine that will be the statement which will deal with and answer some of the questions the Deputy has raised. The Rebuilding Ireland strategy is Government policy. It is being implemented. As the Deputy will know, approximately 2,000 social houses are at various stages of construction or planning. That is a significant change compared to where were last year and we know that planning starts and planning applications have increased considerable as well. We are seeing definite increased activity in terms of housing supply, but we are still obviously very much further behind where we need to be in terms of supply. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is reviewing the strategy in full. Part of it, as the Deputy will know, involves an increase by one third in our social housing stock. Perhaps that is not enough but it is significant that we are going to increase our social housing stock by one third. It is a reversal of the policy in the past which was to reduce the social housing stock and sell it off. We are committed in the plan to increase it considerably but other measures need to be examined as well. There is a review of the first-time buyer's grant, of which the Deputy will be aware. Consideration is being given to a vacant homes strategy and taking action to tax homes that have been vacant for long periods of time in places of high demand, or also incentivising and encouraging people to make homes available for habitation.

In the context of the budget, we will need to look at the private rented sector to see if there are ways we can encourage people to continue to rent their properties or move into the private rental market if they are not doing so already.

Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Micheál Martin

Question:

3. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his telephone conversation with President Trump; the issues that were discussed; and if the undocumented Irish and a possible visit here by President Trump were discussed. [31012/17]

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

4. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his conversation with the President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump. [31173/17]

Brendan Howlin

Question:

5. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his telephone conversation with President Trump on 27 June 2017. [31182/17]

Gerry Adams

Question:

6. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his conversation with the President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump, on 27 June 2017. [31190/17]

Micheál Martin

Question:

7. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he discussed climate change when he spoke with President Trump. [31382/17]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 to 7, inclusive, together.

I spoke to President Trump by telephone last week. It was a short call, similar to a number of calls I have had in recent days. The President asked about Brexit and its impact on Ireland, as well as the peace process and the ongoing efforts to reinstate power-sharing in Northern Ireland. I outlined the current situation, including our particular concerns in relation to Brexit and acknowledged the importance of continued close interest and support in Northern Ireland affairs from the US Administration. While we did not discuss a possible visit to Ireland by the President, he reissued the invitation to me, as Taoiseach, to attend the traditional functions in Washington for St. Patrick’s Day, including meeting him in the White House. I look forward to attending these events next March.

During our short conversation I raised a number of issues, including Ireland-US trade relations, migration, the scale of Irish investment in the United States and the importance of US foreign direct investment to Ireland and climate change. I indicated that I looked forward to having an opportunity to discuss these issues with him in more detail in due course. As I said in the House last week, I want to see our relations with the United States continue to develop based on the long-standing friendship between our two countries. As Taoiseach, I am committed to working productively with the US Administration to promote Ireland’s interests in the United States and further strengthen the economic, trade and investment links between Ireland and the United States to the mutual benefit of both countries. At the same time, I will ensure I promote the values of this country and the European values for which the Government stands.

The core of this question was answered last week. We have been treated to the highly unusual situation where there is film of what was said at the other end of the line. As I said last week, we must have a large dose of realism when discussing what Ireland can achieve in bilateral discussions with powerful countries. Equally, it remains clear that President Trump's knowledge of Ireland remains roughly on a par with that when he was welcomed to a Sinn Féin fundraiser by Deputy Gerry Adams. On that occasion, a couple of months before the Canary Wharf bombing, Deputy Gerry Adams spoke admiringly of Mr. Trump, even saying Sinn Féin was happy to play "the Trump card." It has been reported that when the Minister of State, Deputy John Paul Phelan, managed to persuade Deputy John Deasy to talk to the Taoiseach again, the Taoiseach offered him the role of special envoy to the US Congress. Will the Taoiseach explain what is involved in this highly unusual role? Does it supersede that of Ministers who are supposed to be undertaking this task as part of their role and the role of the ambassador to Washington who has always been the touch point in relationships with Congress and Capitol Hill? The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade or one of his Ministers of State normally has explicit responsibility for lobbying on the issue of undocumented immigrants, for instance, among other issues. Did the Taoiseach discuss this appointment with them? Are there costs involved in the appointment? Will the Taoiseach explain, apart from being a consolation prize for Deputy John Deasy, what is actually involved and what the Deputy will be doing in the role?

We will take questions one by one.

I am fascinated to hear that President Trump attended a Sinn Féin fundraiser.

It is new information for me and very curious. I can confirm that he has not attended any Fine Gael fundraiser, to my knowledge.

I have appointed Deputy John Deasy as a Government envoy to the US Congress, particularly to deal with issues around migration and the undocumented Irish. It does not supersede anyone else's role. It does not supersede the role of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade or that of the ambassador. Of course, I agreed to it with the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, prior to making the appointment. Deputy John Deasy will report to me, but he will work under the umbrella of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and with the new ambassador, Mr. Dan Mulhall, who will travel there in September. The particular role relates to the US Congress because it is important that we have a greater presence on Capitol Hill. The Deputy worked there for a long period, 15 years, and has good connections and a good knowledge of how the US Congress works. It will be of particular value having somebody there, in addition to our staff who are already in Washington DC, lobbying individual Members of Congress to have changes made to legislation that would be to our benefit.

That is what the ambassador does.

It is an extra person.

That is what the ambassador does.

I asked the Taoiseach's predecessor, Deputy Enda Kenny, a question that gained a lot of publicity at the time. I asked if he thought the election manifesto and policy promises of Donald Trump were racist and dangerous and he agreed that they were. I ask the Taoiseach the same question now that Donald Trump is President. Are the policies he is pursuing racist and dangerous? If the answer is yes, will the Taoiseach state this clearly and publicly and what it means for the stance we adopt vis-à-vis those policies and his Administration? The Taoiseach has said he does not agree with the travel ban. Is it racist to impose a travel ban on people from six particular countries, tarring all people from these countries who happen to be Muslims as somehow being undesirable to enter the United States?

On the dangerous front, does the Taoiseach recognise that the policies being pursued by Donald Trump, particularly in the Middle East, of massively increasing arms sales to Saudi Arabia, supporting that brutal dictatorship and arming it to assist it in its vile actions in Yemen, the dangerous escalation of the conflict with Qatar which is also an escalation of the conflict with Iran, have dangerous implications for stability and peace in the region? Does the Taoiseach recognise that this is dangerous and that the President's talk at the the beginning of the year about sending an armada to North Korea was also a dangerous escalation? Notwithstanding the horrific nature of that regime and what it has done in the last few days, does the Taoiseach recognise that Donald Trump's policies are dangerous and racist and that something must be said about them?

I have answered those questions in the past. I did so in front of a television camera and what I said is there for anyone to see.

I do not wish to withdraw or repeat it because we have a relationship that we must build and maintain between our two countries. It is a very important relationship, one that will last longer than any President or Taoiseach or Administration or Government.

It is more important.

I said before and will say again that in meetings and engagements with the US Administration we will not hesitate to share our views with it on issues such as human rights and climate change and areas of foreign policy where we disagree. Countries that are friends - America is a friend of Ireland's - should be able to speak the truth to each other and we will do so.

I want to explore further the specifics of the role Deputy John Deasy has been given in order that we might understand it. Did the Taoiseach discuss his role with President Trump during their conversation and what specifically his role will be? I am unaware of any Member of this House having been appointed a Government envoy who was not a member of the Government.

Will Deputy John Deasy report back to the Taoiseach? Will he be supported by staff at our embassy in Washington or in the Taoiseach's Department? What will be his status in interactions? Will he speak authoritatively for the Government? How will it work and how will he co-ordinate his role with the formal role of our ambassador to Washington which we have always understood? Mr. Dan Mulhall who is about to take up the position is an extraordinarily experienced ambassador. Those of us who have been to Washington for decades will know the pivotal role played by our ambassador to Washington who has unique access to Capitol Hill. How will this be co-ordinated with somebody else? Is it envisaged that Deputy John Deasy will spend some part of the year in residence in Washington?

My second question relates to the Taoiseach's conversation with President Trump.

Did the Taoiseach and President Trump discuss his proposal for a border adjustment tax within the broader topic of free trade? Is there any indication that this proposal will be advanced by the Trump Administration?

We did not speak about the border adjustment tax specifically. It was a short call and we sketched an agenda for a meeting that we will most likely have in March. I mentioned Ireland's commitment to free trade and the fact that we are a country that believes in and is committed to continuing free trade. I took the opportunity to mention to President Trump that Ireland is the seventh biggest inward investor into the United States. People often think it is all one way with US companies setting up in Ireland and employing staff. I mentioned there are over 700 Irish companies that have invested in the United States and are a big inward investor into that country. I indicated that Irish companies employ Americans in all 50 states. We need to start talking a little more about that and reminding people in the United States who may be opposed to free trade that it is a two-way process and they benefit from it as well.

Deputy Deasy's appointment is an innovation and I am not sure if it has been done before in Ireland. It is not unusual in other countries for governments to appoint special representatives or special envoys.

How would it work within our legal framework?

In the United States there have been a number of special envoys appointed, including some to Ireland. Very often one meets people from Sweden who are government-appointed ambassadors for a particular matter, such as climate change or lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual rights and so on.

Will he be an ambassador?

No. There is no legal status and it is an appointment I have made. He will report to me. He will of course be supported by the embassy staff in Washington DC and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. There is no remuneration for it aside from reasonable expenses.

Does he or the ambassador speak authoritatively?

The ambassador speaks for the Government.

Yes. For whom will Deputy Deasy speak?

The ambassador speaks for the Government but Deputy Deasy will speak as my representative and on my behalf in engagements in Washington DC. It should be seen as an extra pair of hands or boots on the ground.

Perhaps an extra chore on the ambassador, who will have to mind the Deputy.

It is a supplementary role and he is someone who knows how Congress works. Let us see how it pans out.

I thank the Taoiseach for his report on the conversation with President Trump. We are all familiar with the concerns on this side of the Atlantic about many of the policies and strategies being pursued by the Trump Administration. Immigration has been mentioned and we could speak about the partisan White House approach to Israel. Climate change is also on the long list. I should also say that Sinn Féin, unlike other political parties, has considerable party engagement in the United States.

Yes. It has been tried by others, including the Labour Party, which failed miserably. Mr. Trump is not a contributor to Sinn Féin and nor has he ever been. The Taoiseach can ask him about it on his next phone call.

There was the 1995 dinner. He was there. I can play the video if the Deputy likes.

Following the Taoiseach's conversation, is he any more hopeful about the attitude of the Trump Administration towards the 50,000 undocumented Irish living in the USA? Has there been a follow-up call with the Trump Administration since the Taoiseach spoke with the President? I have a concern and it is important for families here and people in the United States to know whether the undocumented citizens are now under greater threat of arrest and deportation. I take this opportunity to express my personal admiration for Ms Caitriona Perry and her professionalism when she found herself the focus of President Trump's attentions.

The Taoiseach spoke about envoys and it is not bad for an additional set of boots to be on the ground, as the Taoiseach put it, leading to additional engagement with Congress. The Trump Administration is the first since President Clinton not to appoint a special envoy to assist the peace process. Did the Taoiseach raise that matter with President Trump? When will our new ambassador take office? As the Taoiseach knows, Mr. Brian Burns recently withdrew his name from the process of becoming the next US ambassador to Ireland due to ill health. Is there a prospective US ambassador and did President Trump shed any light on the matter?

It occurs to me how much things change over time. In 1995, when President Trump was in Sinn Féin, Deputy McDonald was in Fianna Fáil. Things change and change again.

President Donald Trump might be rather alarmed to hear he was in Sinn Féin. The Taoiseach should not create a diplomatic incident as it might not be wise.

It was a $200 per plate dinner.

He was in their company.

He was in the company of Sinn Féin.

Deputy McDonald might go back.

The undocumented Irish in the United States remain a very high priority for the Government. The embassy in Washington DC is in ongoing contact with members of the community and politicians in that city. We understand immigration is of course a very politically sensitive matter and it will be difficult to separate the request of the Irish Government for regularisation of our citizens from similar requests from other countries. That creates a difficulty.

We should not separate it.

Perhaps we should not separate the request if circumstances are much the same. We are providing €1.4 million in funding through the emigrant support programme and some of that is being used to assist people with immigration law problems in the United States. For example, additional funding is now being made available to the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers to produce a fact sheet to ensure citizens are accurately informed on recent changes to immigration law in America. The available support is being highlighted and much information is being given to people on legal advice they can get, particularly through the consulate and immigration centre.

May I correct the record of the Dáil? It relates to a matter raised by the Taoiseach.

Is it a personal statement?

No. For the record, President Donald Trump was in the Democratic Party, as opposed to Sinn Féin, in 1995. That should be noted.

That made it okay.

Northern Ireland

Micheál Martin

Question:

8. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he has spoken with British Prime Minister May regarding the Northern Ireland Assembly negotiations; and the issues that were discussed. [31013/17]

Brendan Howlin

Question:

9. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his telephone conversation with British Prime Minister May on 27 June 2017. [31183/17]

Gerry Adams

Question:

10. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his conversation with the British Prime Minister, Ms Theresa May, on 27 June 2017. [31191/17]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 10, inclusive, together.

I spoke by phone with Prime Minister May on 27 June, when we discussed the ongoing talks process in Northern Ireland and our strong commitment to supporting the peace process as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. We agreed to continue to work together to support the parties in reaching agreement to allow the re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Executive and the need to have all the institutions under the agreement up and running to ensure ongoing protection of the peace process. I reiterated the Irish Government's support of the Irish language Act and the need for balance and respect between the parties. I repeated my concern to ensure the UK Government's impartiality in Northern Ireland and noted the Conservative-DUP deal that had been published that day. I added that I hoped the additional funding for Northern Ireland would be beneficial and we briefly discussed the previous week's European Council. The British Prime Minister and I agreed to maintain close contact, including over the coming days, with reference to the Northern Ireland talks.

The news from the talks in Belfast is very bad and it appears there will be at least another two months before the Executive might be re-established and the Assembly might start to work. The only details we have are the usual wholly partisan accounts from both Sinn Féin and the DUP that they have done nothing wrong and the other lot are being inflexible. Although there is an anti-Brexit majority in the Assembly and the DUP has lost the ability to table solo petitions of concern, Northern Ireland continues to be voiceless in Brexit discussions that are fundamental to the future welfare of all parts of this island. It is incredible that at a time of the worst potential threat to our economic model, there is no Executive or Assembly in Northern Ireland.

Neither Government appears to be more than passive bystanders to these negotiations and certainly the active involvement critical to past agreements does not appear to be present.

After two Assembly elections, a collapse of the Executive and an ongoing failure to re-establish the Executive, I believe that represents a crisis. It is a simple fact that the British Prime Minister has so far not attended any all-party discussions. She has been more even-handed than the Taoiseach at least in that she has met all of the parties, and not just the largest two.

This is extremely damaging. I said it to the Taoiseach earlier and I agree with his comments that the Good Friday Agreement has to be restored as the central template through which these issues get resolved. The introduction of Border poll discussions and all of that-----

It is provided for in the Agreement.

-----has destabilised and polarised communities in the North. I refer to the absence of the North-South agenda. There was great momentum in the early days of the Agreement in terms of Waterways Ireland and all of that. I see no interest from the parties in that dimension to the Good Friday Agreement.

I speak the Irish language and I have a great commitment to the language but we need to be careful that we do not exploit the Irish language as a tool in terms of political discussions. That could be damaging to the language. The Church of Ireland has a noble tradition in terms of scholarship around the Irish language. I remember being in negotiations in Hillsborough and going across to a Presbyterian chapel where there was a 16th century bible in Irish in a glass case. There was always a strong, healthy Protestant tradition in terms of the Irish language, so we need to be extremely careful that we do not now create alienation from the language in certain unionist and loyalist communities by having this as the breakpoint on which the Assembly cannot come back. I support an Act, although we have an Act here in the Republic and the first commissioner resigned because of its non-implementation.

There are five minutes left.

We have a lot of work to do in the Republic as well in terms of having an effective implementation of the language Act and lessons can be learned by the North in terms of how one goes about establishing that. However, it is very important that a language is something people gravitate towards or are nurtured in in terms of their appreciation and love of it. Deputy Eamon Ó Cuív has done a good deal of work with the loyalist and unionist community-----

There will be no time for a response.

-----in terms of the language.

We have five minutes left. I respectfully suggest that we take the next questions together and the Taoiseach may have time to answer. Otherwise, there will be no answers.

We are all worried about the imminent breakdown in the current talks in Northern Ireland that seems to put back the prospect, because of the impending marching season, of a reconstitution of the Executive until September at the earliest. That is profoundly worrying.

Some months ago, the Taoiseach did an interview with Sean O'Rourke on his radio show during which he criticised the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, for talking in sound bites. He expressed his fears in that interview concerning her rhetoric on a border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. I am interested to hear the Taoiseach's views now because I believe we are at a critical phase.

I share Deputy Micheál Martin's view, although the Taoiseach explained it was a time constraint when he was in the North that resulted in him only meeting with the DUP and Sinn Féin. Does he plan to rectify that by meeting the other parties - the SDLP, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, the Green Party and so on soon - so that all parties are respected and embraced, including the UUP, in Northern Ireland?

Some of us found the commentary by Sammy Wilson this morning on national radio jarring. I dealt with Sammy Wilson when he was Minister for Finance bilaterally on the North-South Council. If I was to paraphrase it, his commentary on any exhortation from the Republic for greater LGBT rights in Northern Ireland or marriage equality was that we are to butt out, and certainly the Taoiseach is to butt out. There are profound questions like that on which we have a right to have a view. I would be interested in hearing the Taoiseach's take on his commentary.

I will begin by thanking the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Teachta Coveney, and the team of Government officials who participated in all of the discussions at Stormont Castle. I want to commend also our own negotiating team who have been immersed in this process for weeks and months and who for our part, to reassure the House, have kept channels of communication with every party and with Independents open. That is as it should be. It is a fair ask of the Taoiseach that he would also meet with the other parties, so I support that.

The outcome of all of this is certainly not one we wanted. We are disappointed, but we are not deflected from the task at hand. It boils down to this. The DUP has adopted and seeks to defend an approach that is anti-equality. The issues at stake are issues of long standing. They are not orange or green. They are not Sinn Féin issues; they are civic issues. They are issues around equality before the law, in the case of marriage equality, or a bill of rights, as agreed at the time of the Good Friday Agreement. It is an issue around Acht na Gaeilge, for all Gaeilgeoirí. Their religious denomination does not matter. These are fundamental building blocks of identity, respect for diversity and, as I said earlier, equality before the law. The Taoiseach and the Government in Dublin not only have a right but an absolute responsibility to have a view and to pursue a progressive agenda on all of these matters.

We need to get the institutions back in place. That is still the position. The DUP has its confidence and supply agreement with Theresa May. I believe she has a very serious case to answer in terms of her role and the role of the Tories in subverting the dynamic of the talks. Has the Taoiseach spoken directly with Mrs. May on the implementation of these rights-based matters?

We are out of time, but I call the Taoiseach to respond.

I want to say how much the Government regrets the fact that the parties in Northern Ireland failed to re-establish an Executive. People in Northern Ireland voted for devolved Government. They voted for home rule and because of the parties' inability to come to an agreement, that is not the case and they are being governed again by civil servants and British politicians. As well as that, there is no unique elected voice for Northern Ireland at a critical time in terms of Brexit. It is a shame that an agreement has not been made. Talks are now paused for the marching season and the summer break, but I hope and anticipate that talks can be successful in September when they resume.

The Government has been very engaged. As the Deputies know, I met with the DUP and Sinn Féin. I am currently scheduling meetings with the other parties in the next couple of weeks. I am very keen to do that. They were invited to the official dinner last night but were not able to make it, so we are trying to find another time to have meetings in the next couple of weeks.

I have had four engagements with Theresa May in person and on the phone. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has been in Belfast for most of the past three weeks representing the Government. Both the Prime Minister and I as Taoiseach stand ready to take part in these talks. However, we agreed there was not a particular moment when such intervention would have made a key difference in the past. It has often been possible to bring the parties together with the help of funds from the guarantor Governments. The funds were made available this time by Theresa May through the agreement with the DUP, in addition to funds made available previously. The key problem as to why we do not have an agreement in the North is the inability of Sinn Féin and the DUP to trust each other. That is very unfortunate.

It is not about trust; it is about implementation.

It is at the core of the difficulty we face.

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