- Mr President, I wish to speak on behalf of the Group which I represent here, the EDA - and also of my party at home - Fianna Fail; to welcome this House's decision to accept the proposal made by the joint groups here today; and to congratulate, as my colleague Mr Gallagher has done, John Hume, our Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, the British Prime Minister, John Major, and all those involved in the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

I would also like to take this opportunity to quote something which was stated by the founder of my party in Ireland, Eamon de Valera, back in 1923, when he said that the ultimate court of appeal for deciding disputed questions of national expediency and policy is the people of Ireland, the judgment being by majority vote of the adult citizens, and the decision to be submitted to and resistance by violence excluded, not because a decision is necessarily right or just or permanent, but because acceptance of this rule makes for peace, order and unity in national action and is the democratic alternative to arbitrament by force.

(Applause)