I thank the Leader of the House for organising this debate at such short notice. It is important that we should at least publicly reflect on the current situation in Northern Ireland before the House goes into recess for Easter. I thank her sincerely for organising this debate.
Last week was an important week historically for this country. At one level it was five years since the Good Friday Agreement was negotiated, but it was also an important week in the history of my party. Some 80 years ago last week to the very week Cumann na nGael was established in Dublin, nine months after the first Free State Government was established. In a sense my party was a Government first and a political party second.
The great success of that first and second Government of the Free State was twofold. One, it immediately brought about a civilian control of the Army which was not even achieved in the first Dáil in 1919. Second, by 1930 the Army was half the size it was in 1922. That underlines the importance W. T. Cosgrave and the first and second Governments gave to demilitarisation and taking the gun out of Irish politics. I reflect on that historical point this evening so that we can all point the way to progress in Northern Ireland.
While the current impasse is depressing it is also encouraging from the point of view of where we go forward from today. I am greatly encouraged by the fact that both Governments are together on this issue. Both Governments are demanding action, acts of completion – call it what one will – not only in respect of the final bits of the Agreement that need to be implemented or because we want consistency in the way forward in terms of implementing the Agreement, but also because the final acts of completion from the republican and loyalist armed groups need to be resolved. It is in that context I put this debate.
If we ask Unionists to sit down with Sinn Féin, as we do, we must understand that there is a price for that and the price is full and complete decommissioning, acts of completion and the end of paramilitarism on this island once and for all. That is the consistent view of the Irish people, as expressed in the Good Friday Agreement. We must uphold the wishes of the Irish people, North and South, in the acceptance of that Agreement in 1998.
Sinn Féin is an important part of the peace process. It has helped the IRA move hugely over the past ten years with the help of others, Senator Mansergh and many other important contributors. I fully accept that. Sinn Féin and the IRA must now make the decision once and for all to put their paramilitary past behind them and look to the future only as a political party. That was the same context in which W. T. Cosgrave and the first and second Governments operated in the 1920s and it brought us down the road of accepting democracy in this country.
Ultimately, when Sinn Féin and the IRA make the decision to abandon paramilitarism we will have democracy on this island. I support the work of both Governments in their efforts in Northern Ireland over the coming weeks to bring about the democracy that we all want in this country.