No room for complacency in Brexit negotiations, says Oireachtas Good Friday Committee

» John Hedges

An Phoblacht Editor

‘The committee underlines the necessity of the Good Friday Agreement being kept to the fore at all times in the forthcoming negotiations’

EXPLICIT REFERENCES to the need to uphold all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement in the EU’s negotiating guidelines are important but there is no room for complacency, the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement has said.

On behalf of the Good Friday Agreement Committee, Chairperson Kathleen Funchion TD (Sinn Féin) acknowledged the “important developments” at the European Council last Saturday and said in an official statement:

“As the committee with responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, the importance of including explicit references to the need to uphold all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement in the EU’s negotiating guidelines cannot be overstated.”

She continued, however:

“While an important achievement, this is just the beginning of long and complex negotiations and there is no room for complacency.

“The committee underlines the necessity of the Good Friday Agreement being kept to the fore at all times in the forthcoming negotiations.

“The additional declaration secured by the Government which allows for the entire territory of any future united Ireland being legally part of the EU is also strongly supported by this committee.”

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement also reiterated its support for Conradh na Gaeilge’s efforts in securing the full implementation of an Irish Language Act in the North after meeting Conradh on Thursday.

● The other members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement are TDs Declan Breathnach (FF), Fergus O’Dowd (FG), Tony McLoughlin (FG), Maureen O’Sullivan (Ind), Seán Sherlock (Lab) and Brendan Smith (FF); with Senators Frances Black (Ind), Frank Feighan (FG), Mark Daly (FF), Denis Landy (Lab), Gerard Craughwell (Ind) and Niall Ó Donnghaile (SF).