I propose to take Questions Nos. 4, 5, 12, 16, 23, 33, 41, 42, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50 and 52 together.
I can assure the House that in my estimation the Duncan case has no implications whatever for the peace process or for wider Anglo-Irish relations.
As regards the prospective talks, the Ground Rules for Substantive All-Party Negotiations, which were published by the Irish and British Governments on 16 April following consultation with the political parties, set out the best judgment of the two Governments on the most suitable and broadly acceptable ground rules for the basis, participation, structure, format and agenda of the negotiations. While they establish the basic parameters of the negotiations, and set out some fundamental principles which must be respected, the details of a number of important matters remain to be resolved, as is signalled in the Ground Rules themselves.
At the opening plenary session a comprehensive agenda for the negotiations will have to be agreed by the participants and other procedural questions resolved. The manner and format in which the International Body's proposals on decommissioning can be taken forward —"without blocking the negotiations", as the British Prime Minister put it — has also to be agreed. It is self-evident that the decommissioning question does not fit within any of the strands. This alone would suggest that special arrangements should be put in place to deal with it. How precisely this is to be done is a matter which remains under intensive consideration. In addition, the chairing of the various elements of the negotiations, where an independent chairperson will be required, has to be decided.
The two Governments have been working intensively together on these outstanding questions, with a view to preparing the ground for early decisions on them either before the negotiations or during the opening plenary session, as appropriate. Following a meeting of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference on 22 May, the Secretary of State and I met informally in Dublin on 28 May and we plan to meet again on Tuesday next, 4 June, in London. I hope Deputies will accept that it would not be appropriate for me to disclose at this stage the detail of our discussions, but I can assure the House that every effort is being made to ensure that all of the preparations necessary to promote comprehensive, inclusive and meaningful negotiations will have been completed by the appropriate time.
While it is for the two Governments to offer co-ordinated leadership, the success of the negotiations will also depend on the determination of the parties to take part in the negotiations constructively and in good faith. Discussions, consultations and contact with the parties on the negotiations in fact began last year, immediately after the issue of the November communiqué. These continue, at ministerial or official level, as convenient and appropriate. In this process we have had meetings with all of the leading parties, with the exception of the Democratic Unionist Party. Most recently, the Government last week had useful meetings with the SDLP and the Alliance Party.
The Ground Rules state that the negotiations will involve the participation, in the appropriate strands, of representatives of both Governments and all those political parties operating in Northern Ireland which achieve representation through an elective process and which, as set out in the communiqué of 28 February 1996, establish a commitment to exclusively peaceful methods and which have shown that they abide by the democratic process.
Following the elections which are taking place in Northern Ireland today, the Secretary of State, after consultations with the Government, will formally invite all parties which meet the foregoing criteria to nominate their teams for the negotiations. It seems probable that ten parties will secure representation through the elections.
The position in relation to Sinn Féin was set out in the February 28 communiqué, repeated in the Ground Rules paper, and has been reiterated by the Taoiseach and myself, in this House and elsewhere, on numerous occasions. Both Governments hope that all political parties with an electoral mandate will be able to participate in all-party negotiations. Both Governments are also agreed that the resumption of ministerial dialogue with Sinn Féin, and their participation in negotiations, requires the unequivocal restoration of the ceasefire of August 1994.
I acknowledge that Sinn Féin has its own electoral mandate, which will presumably be confirmed in today's elections. It is also essential, both as a matter of principle and as a practical requirement for success in the negotiating process, that all the participants should show a common commitment to the purely peaceful and democratic resolution of the issue. A continued IRA campaign of violence would inevitably undermine the credibility of any Sinn Féin commitment in this regard.
I also acknowledge that it is for the IRA to decide whether to restore its ceasefire. I very much hope they will do so, and enable Sinn Féin to participate in the negotiations. If the IRA fails to take the decision to restore the ceasefire and to allow Sinn Féin to participate in the negotiations, it will mean that the republican viewpoint will not be represented in the comprehensive round-table negotiations for which Sinn Féin have been calling since August 1994. This would plainly contradict the logic of Sinn Féin's own political analysis.
In the negotiations, the Government's approach will be based on the Framework Document. While it is intended as an aid to negotiations and not as a rigid blueprint to be imposed, both Governments have stated that it sets out a realistic, balanced and achievable framework for agreement.
I share the view that it is essential that an ultimate agreement arising out of the negotiations is not dominated by one side or another. I have said frequently that a solution will never be found in terms of victory or defeat. Clearly, all of the institutional arrangements to be negotiated will require careful balance and appropriate safeguards. The negotiations will operate on the basis of consensus, and will proceed on the principle that nothing will be finally agreed in any strand until everything is agreed in the negotiations as a whole. Perhaps most important of all, the outcome of the negotiations will be submitted for public approval by referendums, North and South, before being submitted to the Oireachtas and the Houses of Parliament for ratification and the earliest possible implementation. Therefore majorities in both parts of the island will have to support the settlement which has been negotiated.
No timeframe has been set for the negotiations, although the British elections legislation provides that the forum will cease to sit at the end of May 1997, with the possibility of an extension until not later than May 1998. As the Taoiseach indicated in the House on 21 May, "it might be useful if all the participants could agree a tighter timeframe on an indicative basis". Following the conclusion of the negotiations, the referendum to be held in this jurisdiction would be organised as quickly as the legislative and practical requirements would permit.
The Government is prepared to make arrangements for the regular confidential briefing of the Opposition parties during the negotiations and I would invite the relevant spokespersons to discuss the matter in detail with me.