Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 November 2023
245. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs to outline his response to the recent comments by a former Northern Ireland First Minister, with particular reference to the restoration of the Assembly. [52291/23]
View answerIt is greatly disappointing that almost 18 months on from the last Assembly elections, Northern Ireland's political institutions remain blocked. As a result, the North South Ministerial Council is also prevented from fulfilling the responsibilities mandated to it by the Good Friday Agreement.
It is clear from my contacts in Northern Ireland that there is deep frustration at this continued impasse. I share the view of the former First Minister that the current situation cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely. His recent comments are further evidence of the degree to which discontent around the lack of progress is felt across the political spectrum. The vast majority of elected representatives – nationalist, unionist and neither – want to get back to work. It is past time that the democratically elected representatives of Northern Ireland are allowed to take up their responsibilities and deliver for their constituents on the range of pressing challenges facing them.
Northern Ireland is facing unprecedented and acute budgetary challenges. The Northern Ireland Civil Service have warned that Departments have reached the limit of what can be done to address budget pressures without an Executive in place. All of this points to the urgent need for the democratically elected representatives of Northern Ireland to assume their responsibilities and to demonstrate their commitment to showing that politics works.
I raised these issues at the British-Irish Council Summit on 23-24 November and at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference on 28 November both hosted by the Government in Dublin. I emphasised the shared responsibility of the British and Irish Governments as guarantors of the Agreement to develop a plan for how we will respond to the different potential outcomes of the current efforts to restore the institutions. It is important that in all discussions on outstanding issues that all voices are listened to in a spirit of cooperation and compromise.
