A thousand thanks for the invitation and the kind welcome. It is a wonderful thing to be in Dublin today. It is a particular pleasure to address Seanad Éireann. I am deeply honoured to be the first Speaker of the United Kingdom's House of Lords to do this. I am delighted to be here in person. Our parliaments worked wonders with technology to keep us functioning during the pandemic but nothing will ever match face-to-face engagement. I thank the Cathaoirleach for his invitation. As he mentioned, this is a return match following our meeting in Westminster one year ago. I was also pleased to meet the Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, when he visited Westminster in June. I send him my best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.
I thank the Cathaoirleach for writing to express his condolences on behalf of the Seanad following the sad death of Her Majesty last month. I am grateful for the words of sympathy expressed by him and others in this Chamber on 14 September, for the kind gesture of opening a book of condolence, the holding of a minute's silence in both Chambers, and the many expressions of support from across the country. I was heartened to see both the Taoiseach and the President in London at the funeral of Her Majesty. The sympathy and support brings home to me the closeness of the relationship between our two countries.
That is my main theme for today and for my visit.
As others have done, I recall Her Majesty's state visit to Ireland in 2011 and some of the memorable moments of that remarkable visit, including her embrace of the Irish language, the wreath-laying ceremony in the Garden of Remembrance and her visit to Croke Park. I also recall the return visit by President Michael D. Higgins three years later, when he addressed both Houses of the United Kingdom Parliament in the Royal Gallery, just next to the Chamber of the House of Lords. I particularly recall how warmly those two great leaders were received and how those visits did so much to help the relationship strengthen between our nations.
Speaking in this Chamber I want to highlight the important role the Seanad has played in the political life of Ireland and over the past century. In its centenary year, I acknowledge the continued importance of this historic Chamber. I thank the Members of this Seanad for their invaluable work. I have greatly enjoyed reading about the year-long programme of events to mark the centenary of the Seanad, such as Minority Voices, Major Changes. I wish the Seanad well with its centenary sitting in December.
We know there are differences but there is much that unites us. I think about the roles of our respective Chambers. Each has a crucial and perhaps unappreciated role, both revising and advisory. Both Chambers have long played an important part in making sure the wide range of views, including minority views, can be heard in our parliamentary systems. There are some differences. I have recently learned that there have been around 830 Senators in total in the 100-year history of the Seanad. That is only a few more than the current membership of the House of Lords. This at least helps me to understand why my role as a providing officer can feel so challenging at times. I understand that the Seanad is taking on a scrutiny role in the adoption of European Union laws. Though the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the EU, this is the type of scrutiny role with which the House of Lords, often working through all-party committees, is familiar. I am certain we have much to learn from each other about how we can fulfil our responsibilities effectively.
Looking ahead I hope we will be able to continue and enhance the co-operation and engagement between Members of our two Chambers. That is one of the ways we can make our contribution to resolving the uncertainties and difficulties in the relationships across these islands and involving the European Union. The House of Lords has taken a close interest in this matter and Members will be aware that the UK's Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is due to receive its Second Reading in the House of Lords next Tuesday, 11 October. Before taking up the post of Lord Speaker, as Senior Deputy Speaker I led the reorganisation of the committee system in the House of Lords. This included the appointment of a Sub-Committee on the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. It is unique in that the House of Commons has no equivalent. The committee is chaired by Lord Michael Jay, former head of the UK Foreign Office and an experienced diplomat. He has been a regular visitor to the Houses of the Oireachtas. The committee also includes members with wide-ranging expertise, including a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, a former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and former leaders and deputy leaders of three of the political parties in Northern Ireland, representing both the unionist and nationalist communities. In conversations I had with Lord Jay and a number of members of the committee, my visit was universally welcomed with enthusiasm. The committee has a determination to make a useful contribution to scrutiny of the protocol and its operation. It has consistently stressed the need for dialogue, constructive engagement, the building - and in some cases rebuilding - of trust and relationship building. One key aspect of this has been its invaluable bilateral dialogue with committees of the Oireachtas and I know it will continue to prioritise this dialogue in the coming months. As the committee said in its introductory report:
The tensions over the Protocol currently seem insoluble. Yet that was also true of the political situation in Northern Ireland during the Troubles [and I am personal witness to that]. But through a slow and painstaking process led by political leaders in Northern Ireland and successive governments in London and Dublin, the peace process took root and flourished, leading to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the subsequent steps towards a power-sharing arrangement. This process took time, patience, dialogue, and most of all trust. The same is true in addressing the problems that Brexit and the Protocol present for Northern Ireland. There is therefore an urgent imperative for all sides to make concerted efforts to build trust by recommitting themselves to that process of dialogue, repairing the damage caused to relations across these islands during the past five years, in the interests, as the Protocol rightly acknowledges, of communities in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Therefore I am delighted with the news that talks between the UK Government and the European Union are to resume and that the political weather seems to be improving.
In my role as Lord Speaker of the House of Lords, I must be strictly politically impartial, representing the whole House. This is an essential part of the trust that Members, from all parties and none, place in me to perform my duties even-handedly. That said, I want to offer some personal reflections. At the end of 1990, I was a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Northern Ireland Office. I was proud to play a role in the huge steps that were taken then and I saw at first hand the value of taking time to build relationships and foster trust. I saw the patient diplomacy of so many, including the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and Senator George Mitchell from the United States. I was then a Labour MP and a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State but we were all happy to acknowledge that we were building on the good work started quietly, patiently and under the radar by John Major's Conservative Administration, working closely with the Administrations led by Albert Reynolds and John Bruton. I also want to acknowledge the leadership and courage over that period of Northern Ireland politicians such as the late John Hume, Seamus Mallon and my good friend, David Trimble, whose funeral in Lisburn I was honoured to attend, along with the Taoiseach, the President and the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. One of the touching elements of that day was seeing Bertie Ahern go out at the end of the funeral and touch David Trimble's coffin. That band of trust was there for all of us and we do not want to lose it.
It is inspiring to think we are looking forward next year to celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, signed back in 1998. What lessons did I learn from seeing this at close hand and from playing my small part? I learned that to reach agreements in the most difficult circumstances we have to be willing to do uncomfortable things. We have to try to see the issue from the other person's perspective, we have to recognise historical differences and nonetheless decide to work together and we must set aside any thoughts of our own advantage. We must also show courage and take risks in the pursuit of worthwhile goals. I addressed students at University College Dublin, UCD, yesterday.
My final remarks to them were that politics is hard and politics is difficult when you have to make choices, so just remember that. In my address to the Senators, I say that if they talk to any of their friends and say the Lord Speaker was here talking to Senators, they should say it was John McFall but not to leave it at John McFall. Say, our friend John McFall, because my visit is all about friendship. We must ensure we have the right structures and opportunities for our representatives to come together. I pay tribute to the valuable role of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, which brings together Senators and Teachta Dála from the Oireachtas and Lords and MPs from Westminster. This body also includes members from the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments and the legislators of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, which makes the BIPA the only parliamentary assembly with membership across these islands.
It was my great honour to host the BIPA members of the House of Lords during the most recent plenary session in February. I hope we will be able to welcome everyone back to Westminster in the near future. In fact, Deputy Brendan Smith chaired that BIPA meeting and I reminded him that in my post-ministerial life, I made an informal visit to the Dáil and sat in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery. I was not in any official position on that occasion and I think the Speaker was Seán Treacy. I recall that, at the beginning he stood up and welcomed me, but in welcoming me he said, "We wish to give a warm welcome to the Canadian Prime Minister."
