Bímid ag obair as Gaeilge agus as Béarla. Níl mo chuid Gaeilge chomh maith agus atá Gaeilge an Teachta Sargent. Ní raibh mé i mo mhúinteoir.
I thank Deputy Noonan for his positive remarks and the House for its support during this effort. Through all the Question Times on this issue the House has been positive in its support of the efforts to achieve what was accomplished yesterday. It is appreciated. We would probably not have had this success without a united House. There was no way for people to ignore the hard realities of this issue.
I very much welcome what was achieved yesterday. It provides an opportunity for movement. It is almost a year to the week since the institutions ran into difficulties. It was on the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend last year that we encountered the problem of the exclusion of Sinn Féin Ministers from the North-South bodies, which led to the tension that followed. We must now move quickly to get the institutions working. The assembly is operating and will continue to do so and the Executive will put the First Minister and his Ministers back in position. The North-South bodies also have to be put back to work very speedily. I hope that will be done over the next day or two. We will be in talks to make sure it happens.
There has been an enormous amount of activity by loyalists this summer and it has continued into the autumn. The pipe bomb attacks which have become synonymous with loyalists have continued to occur practically every day and right up until recent days. I hope they will desist from that activity. In many of the difficult areas it is putting pressure on individuals to respond. My attention is daily directed to the fact that members of the paramilitary groups on ceasefire have been attacked and criticised by their communities for not responding. They are being taunted to respond, but thankfully they have not done so. The best way to move on is for the loyalists to join in the ceasefire and for those who have control to get them to desist from these activities. I also hope the recent action by the Secretary of State in coming down on the loyalist groups will have some effect. We all want to see their leadership stop the violence and get on with the peace process.
I had the opportunity to meet Father Aidan Troy last week and there is no doubt that the actions at the Holy Faith School in the Ardoyne are extraordinary. Every morning and evening a huge number of RUC officers have to move into the area. They go through the daily ritual whereby everybody takes up positions, which would be laughable if it were not so serious. However, the people affected are small children and they and their parents are terrified. Everybody else is terrified. Every morning everybody does exactly the same thing. People have told me that it has become part of the ritual of their day, with the same actions and scenes being repeated, except for the violent incidents which happen every so often. It is far more serious than mere ritual because these children cry through this every morning. Before it starts they are playing and dancing, but then the ritual begins and they are terrorised. They get to school and it takes them an hour to settle. A number of the children have had stress and trauma problems in recent weeks. While adults can perhaps take this – though I am not so sure that is true – children cannot. I take the opportunity provided by Deputy Quinn's questions to appeal to people to stop it. The parents cannot back down and they will not back down. Only a small number of children have left the school and the rest will stick with it. It has nothing to do with solving the problem of paramilitary groups. Father Troy is doing his best and is prepared to talk to anybody in the Glenbryn estate and elsewhere to find a resolution. The success of yesterday gives people an opportunity to think and to stop these actions as quickly as possible.
