Dáil report hints at Northern Ireland MP participation

Northern Ireland MPs should be able to take part in debates in Ireland's national parliament a report has suggested.

An influential parliamentary committee said the MPs should be able to join deputies in the Irish lower house, the Dáil, to discuss issues around Northern Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement.

However it rejected calls for people of Northern Ireland to be given the chance to vote in elections in the Republic.

The move would be seen as a success for Sinn Féin which has lobbied intensively for such representation in the Republic.

The suggestion, which welcomes MPs from all Northern Ireland political parties, came in the Seventh Progress report of the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, published on Thursday March 21.

It suggests that a formal system be set up whereby Northern Ireland political representatives sit in the upper house of the Senate.

Sean Farren, Stormont Minister for Finance said: “A voice for northern perspectives in the South’s parliament would help cement relationships by developing a greater understanding amongst southern politicians of northern perspectives.”

His ministerial colleague Bríd Rodgers added: “This development should be seen as a threat to no one. It is essential that there is genuine dialogue between all the people on this island.”

The report said: “The Dáil could consider taking the necessary procedural steps to allow MPs elected for Northern Ireland constituencies to speak in periodic debates on Northern Ireland matters and on the operation of the Good Friday Agreement.

“The expertise and experience upon which Northern MPs could draw could certainly enhance the quality of certain important Dáil debates.

“Such an initiative would be strongly welcomed by certain Northern representatives and their supporters, and would address the continuing desire of many nationalists for further concrete expression of their Irish identity,” it added.

But to bring members of the Northern Ireland Assembly into the Dublin chamber would be a “more problematic option” because of the larger numbers involved, the report concluded.

(AMcE)