Gay Mitchell
Ceist:1 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the current situation in relation to the Good Friday Agreement. [8853/99]
Ceisteanna – Questions. Priority Questions. - Northern Ireland Issues.
Proinsias De Rossa
Ceist:2 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the current state of the discussions between the two Governments and the political parties in Northern Ireland about the full implementation of all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement. [8948/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.
The full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in all of its aspects remains the key priority of the Government's Northern Ireland policy. We are working closely with the British Government and pro-Agreement parties in the North to achieve this objective. In a little under a year, considerable progress has been made.
The institutional, equality and human rights aspects of the Agreement were passed into law at Westminster last November. The Assembly on 16 February approved the report of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister on the number and demarcation of Government Departments which the Executive will oversee. On the same occasion, it also endorsed proposals relating to the other institutions.
On 1 March, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland circulated the Standing Orders covering the d'Hondt procedure under which members of the Executive will be appointed. She has indicated that it is her intention to trigger the procedure in the Assembly this week.
In a major step forward, on 8 March the Secretary of State and I signed four supplementary international agreements providing for the establishment of the North-South Ministerial Council, the six North-South implementation bodies, the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference and the British Irish Council. These agreements were approved and the legislation required to establish the implementation bodies was passed in the Oireachtas and at Westminster later that week. They were signed by the President on 22 March.
Work on the implementation of other aspects of the Agreement is also continuing. The Human Rights Commission is up and running in the North. Work on the draft legislation to establish a human rights commission in this jurisdiction is well advanced. The Patten Commission on the future of policing, the Criminal Justice Review and the International Commission on Decommissioning are all continuing with their work.
All the necessary provisions are now in place for the institutions under the Agreement to ‘go live' once the current impasse over the formation of the Executive and decommissioning has been resolved. We are working intensively with the British Government and the Northern Ireland parties in the search for a way forward. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Liz O'Donnell, and officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs had a series of valuable bilateral meetings in Belfast last week, and the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister arrived there last night. I have just come from our discussions and will return to Belfast shortly after Question Time. I am fully convinced all the pro-Agreement parties are totally dedicated to finding an honourable way forward. However, it will be appreciated that, at this most delicate moment in the process, it would not be helpful for me to go into detail on our discussions.
There is no easy solution to the current impasse and, as the Taoiseach has indicated, accommodation can only be found if everyone shows flexibility and willingness to move from present positions. It took partnership, creativity and shared responsibility to reach agreement last Good Friday – my message, which remains the same to all parties, is to approach the current negotiations in exactly the same spirit, and I believe that is happening.
The challenges we face this week are daunting, but we must find a means to overcome them. There is simply no alternative. As President Clinton rightly said, failure is not an option. The vicious murder of Rosemary Nelson, and other recent incidents of violence, have highlighted once again that there must be no going back to the old ways. The people of Ireland want a future built on partnership and peace.
On my behalf and on behalf of my party, I wish the Minister and his colleagues well. We hope the talks will be fruitful and that everything will go well.
The House recognises the difficulties that decommissioning presents for the republican movement and welcomes the IRA's identification of the burial sites of disappeared persons. In the interests of humanity, we hope the burial places of the remaining disappeared persons will become known. The House favours the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, including the release of prisoners. The House, on behalf of the people of the Republic, wants sanity in the republican movement. It recognises the difficulties the Unionists face and hopes for a generous response so that the impasse is broken and the Good Friday Agreement can be fully implemented.
Are both sides adopting the flexible and creative approach for which the Taoiseach hoped so that progress can be made? Are the leaders of Sinn Féin stretching the republican constituency, as Mr. Adams promised on Capitol Hill? Does the Minister believe the d'Hondt system will be triggered this week leading to the setting up of the Northern Ireland executive?
I am grateful to the Deputy for his opening remarks which are appreciated. There has been all-party support for the goal we are seeking to achieve over the next 36 to 48 hours. Since last evening, the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister had intensive bilateral meetings. They also had intensive meetings with Mr. Adams and Mr. McGuinness. The Taoiseach, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell and myself met Sinn Féin, the UUP and the SDLP. There were also other meetings.
The message I can give to the House at this remove, having just come from Belfast and returning shortly, is one of hope. There is a mindset within the parties that this is the opportunity which must not be missed. I am hopeful. I cannot, in the context of the British Prime Minister's involvement with the obscenities taking place in the Balkans and other matters upon which he has to focus, see him staying in Belfast beyond tomorrow. I would like to think "the business" will be done by then. The message from me to you is one of hope, particularly with regard to the attitude of the parties yesterday evening.
This morning there was a series of meetings, including one with the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition and a joint meeting of the British Prime Minister and the Taoiseach with a local school. The atmosphere is one of friendship and a wish for a solution to this terribly difficult problem.
We accept the question of decommissioning is central to the whole problem of the impasse. We accept the Agreement does not contain a precondition that there must be a start to decommissioning before Sinn Féin can take its place in the Executive. Given the size of its mandate, under the terms of the Agreement, Sinn Féin is entitled to two places in that Executive.
It is equally a reality that the UUP interprets the Agreement in a different way. Its understanding is that the participation of Sinn Féin in the Executive requires a start to decommissioning. These are the realities we as a Government must face and the realities we and the British Government must overcome. We have succeeded in get ting this far by finding solutions with which all sides can live and we now must do the same with the present impasse. We do not, however, have much time to do that.
The parties to the Agreement, in their wisdom, established a mechanism to deal with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning under General John de Chastelain. This is seen as the way forward by all sides, including Mr. David Trimble and Mr. Gerry Adams. The task now is to help General de Chastelain find the formula to unblock that impasse.
I join my colleague, Deputy Gay Mitchell, in wishing the Minister, the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister well in their task of seeking a compromise on the issue of decommissioning. I thank the Minister for travelling back to the Dáil to take Question Time today.
Does he agree the problem derives from an uncertainty on the part of Sinn Féin about whether it can carry its organisation with it if it concedes on the issue of decommissioning, and an uncertainty on the part of David Trimble as to whether he can carry his party with him if he does not get a concession on decommissioning in advance of the establishment of an Executive? If that is a correct analysis, is the Minister in a position to outline the parameters of a compromise in overcoming those difficulties? Will he agree also that the decommissioning issue has been on the horizon from virtually the beginning of this process, that initially the Unionist position was that there would not be talks without decommissioning, that the Mitchell principles indicated there should be decommissioning during the course of negotiations – that did not happen – that the Agreement provides for it to happen within the two year period from the acceptance of the Agreement, that a year of that two year period has now passed, that David Trimble finds himself in the position of having to have some concession on this issue and that, therefore, it is critical that a compromise is found?
I am not giving the Deputy a short answer, because this is a matter of extreme seriousness, but it is a compromise that would meet the requirements of the parties and, more particularly, the UUP and Sinn Féin, and the broad parameters of what is necessary to enable the Good Friday Agreement to come into force. The Deputy is aware that all legislative arrangements are now in place to allow for the entry into force of the Good Friday Agreement. That will occur through an exchange of letters between the two Governments. As this is related to issuing a devolution order by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State transferring powers to the executive and the Assembly, the exchange of letters clearly cannot take place until the current impasse has been resolved.
In relation to what has been done, more particularly in the context of urging Sinn Féin to decommission, the Government has had a number of meetings with Sinn Féin representatives where the issue of decommissioning has been extensively explored and it has had many meetings with Sinn Féin on other issues, some of which have been resolved. We would welcome any progress on decommissioning and we would like to see progress in this area sooner rather than later, but this problem will only be resolved by give and take on both sides and we are, at this very moment, exploring all possibilities and options in this regard. I am grateful for the Deputy's remarks at the beginning of his intervention.
Given the day that is in it, and the issue we are dealing with, I have no wish to cause any difficulties for the Minister or pursue questions which might be best left alone. On the murder of Rosemary Nelson, will the Minister agree it would help the atmosphere of any negotiations if not only is justice done but justice is seen to be done, and that the undertakings given in relation to a fully independent investigation of this murder are delivered on? Will the Minister confirm that progress is being made in this?
I am pleased to tell the Deputy progress has been made. While I was not immediately party to the discussion between the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister I was in the general area and entered the room on their invitation subsequently. The British Prime Minister is seized of the need, arising from the Taoiseach's intervention, for an open, transparent and accountable inquiry into the tragic death of Rosemary Nelson. I understand the Taoiseach, no later than today, may have either phoned Mr. Nelson or visited him; I think the former is the case but I am open to correction. I agree the inquiry must be and be perceived to be an independent inquiry.
Does the Minister agree that Sinn Féin should view decommissioning as a statement of its own self-confidence rather than a surrender? Does he also agree that decommissioning would be a demonstration of Sinn Féin's confidence in the democratic process and its crossing of the threshold into that process?
When will the human rights commission in the Republic be operational? Does the Minister think the other ten "disappeared" who have not been accounted for by the IRA are likely to be located? Is the IRA in a position to indicate where the bodies of these unfortunate people are located?
It is not the Government's normal position to respond to questions on what the IRA may or may not do. However, the Deputy has asked a reasonable question and I will make an exception in this instance. Given the current atmosphere, it is hoped that the bodies of the ten "disappeared" will be recovered in the name of whatever God they pray to. We all wish the minds of their families to be at peace.
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform will shortly introduce legislation concerning the human rights commission. I would like to think that will be during the next session. I am grateful to the Deputy for pointing out that there is some urgency concerning this issue.