Micheál Martin

We are taking our responses in terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

I believe in the unity of the Irish people, okay,-----

-----but I would say to the Deputies that with everything Sinn Féin does, the onus is on the Government. The Government will take its responsibilities in relation to this but-----

-----fo a party I would have thought was so committed as Sinn Féin is rhetorically - it keeps going on about it - it has produced very little in terms of what it believes the blueprint should be.

That is the point I would make-----

-----because the party always wants us to produce the blueprint.

By the way, Fianna Fáil will not be found wanting, nor will other parties, in terms of delivering substance in respect of this issue.

That is covering all the seven really. There are a good few-----

Deputy Devlin made a very important point and he has done very good work as Chair of the Good Friday committee. I certainly think he is correct in respect of what has happened in Nigeria. At the European Union-African Union Summit, that was raised in terms of what Boko Haram and various jihadist groups were doing in terms of the persecution and killing of many people, but Christians as well, and t…

I have no issue with people - obviously, I do not - supporting Palestinians. I do have an issue - I am not saying this happened in these cases at all because I do not know the full detail of them - but I read recently of a case where there was a ramming of building in London, so it is not as black and white as the Deputy has articulated, or even here where people drive through gates and barriers a…

So, is that acceptable? Is that legitimate protest? No, it is not. When there are people working in those offices, they do not think it is legitimate. All I am saying is we all have to be clear on the demarcation line. I am not familiar with the individual cases here in terms of the alleged crimes and so on like that, but let us not try to pretend that everything is just all one way because-----

-----one thing I do know-----

One thing I do know is either on the far right or the far left, people do transgress the lines and let us not pretend they do not. They have in this country in the past. There clearly are other issues in the UK-----

-----and so on like that. Look, some people were trying to stop Dublin Port the other day.

Well, they should not be trying to stop-----

Some 80% of trade in this country goes through Dublin Port and you guys want to wreck it. That is bread on the table. Workers all over the country depend on trade going through Dublin Port. As far as the Deputies are concerned, that should be stopped in its tracks. There are demarcation lines that we have to be very clear about. The right to protest-----

-----is a sacred right in this country. We should cherish that and we should never do anything to damage it, nor should others. I think I have dealt with the issue Deputy Bacik raised in my general response. I do not believe a citizens' assembly is the right way to go. Deputy Conway-Walsh spoke about the cancer consortium. I helped to set that up originally. We are supporting it. On congenital h…

Again, they were not negotiated by this Government, nor are they part of the joint framework. It is our understanding that the accommodation made for witnesses should apply in the cases of all victims equally, regardless of the perspective being brought to the matter.

I did.

You are very welcome, Declan.

It is a brilliant statement.

I jest.

I will try to cut it short to allow others to come in. I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 35, inclusive, together. I established the disability unit in the Department to bring about a renewed focus and urgency and out of a desire to drive progress on disability issues. The unit's first programme plan, published in September, outlines how the unit will drive the delivery of the Government's ne…

You can bring some more of them in if you want, a Cheann Comhairle.

I am not going to write replies to oral questions. I have given an overall response to everybody.