Brendan Smith warns of gaps in Good Friday Agreement implementation
Brendan Smith spoke to the committee about the unfinished obligations of the Good Friday Agreement and the delay in implementing electoral and institutional reforms. He argued there is a need for greater public debate and expressed disappointment at failures to act while Brexit proceeds.
Electoral reform backlog
Brendan Smith recalled a 1979 referendum to extend the university electoral franchise to graduates of the National Institute for Higher Education Dublin and Limerick (now University of Limerick and DCU), Trinity College and the constituent colleges of the National University of Ireland. He noted that, although the referendum passed, the necessary legislation or regulations "have never been implemented," and used the example to illustrate long-standing delays in electoral reform, including recent Seanad reform discussions and a report of the Implantation Group on Seanad Reform 2018.
Good Friday Agreement implementation
He emphasised that the Good Friday Agreement requires ongoing work beyond ending violence and warned against any diminution of its terms in Brexit negotiations. He cited leaders from the 1990s and stressed that governments and parties must actively work to implement all aspects of the agreement - a mandate he said has not been fully delivered north and south since the May 1998 referenda.
Institutional vacuum in Northern Ireland
Brendan Smith warned that the absence of a functioning executive and assembly in Northern Ireland creates a leadership vacuum, leaving critical issues un-driven. He said the lack of an assembly and executive reduces capacity to progress elements such as the Bill of Rights, which he understood to be a responsibility of the British Government and has not been implemented.
Brexit concerns and uncertainty
On Brexit, he said it appears unavoidable but expressed a preference that it had not occurred. He described the withdrawal agreement as offering less from an Irish point of view than previous proposals and highlighted a lack of clarity about post-Brexit arrangements, including customs paperwork and practical implementation questions that remain unresolved.
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I welcome Professor Harvey's contribution, and I think the issues you have put before the committee today are ones that need amplification, so they do, and I think a greater awareness in regard to some of the issues that haven't been implemented and that were critical and essential parts of the Good Friday Agreement. I think that we need a better public discussion and public debate on that. With regard to the extension of the electoral franchise, it is quite ironic that, as you made your presentation, a debate was taking place in the Dáil Chamber in regard to a report of the Implantation Group on Seanad Reform 2018. Well, we're not very quick at bringing an electoral reform in this state, or it's not one that gains a lot of urgency. When one considers that my predecessors of Fianna Fáil, TD and Cabernet, and the late Thomas to John Wilson, as Minister for Education, he sponsored a referendum in July 1979 to extend the university franchise to the graduates of the then National Institute for Higher Education Dublin and National Institute for Higher Education Limerick, which are now the University of Limerick and DCU. That referendum was passed to enable the university franchise to be extended to graduates of those colleges, as well as Trinity College and the constituent colleges of the National University of Ireland. That referendum decision, the necessary legislation or regulations, have never been implemented. So, over that period of time, as an Oireachtas, we have failed to implement even that small measure of electoral reform. So, it's disappointing in that respect. And I would never be one who would believe that electoral reform would happen quickly. The Taoiseach was asked at the leaders' debate, which I participated in, in Fianna Fóbel, last August, in Belfast, about the referendum. And he indicated that time that it would be proceeding. As a Foreign Affairs Committee, that particular issue would come before us for pre-legislative scrutiny. We deemed it as a committee that pre-legislative scrutiny was not necessary. So, to ensure that the necessary legislation could be enacted very, very quickly, that was last July to my memory, but nothing has happened in the meantime. And as Deputy Deputy Deputy Brannock said, that the proposed referendum date has not been adhered to. And that's disappointing, so it is. But I just instanced the small measure of Shannon reform that was envisaged, come back to 1979, and provided for a referendum that hasn't even been enacted yet. Could I just say that in all the discussions we have had, both at this committee and at the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade and Defence, one of the issues that colleagues and myself would have put forward, in that any Brexit negotiations, there could be no diminution in any aspect or any workings of the Good Friday Agreement, or indeed in the potential of the Good Friday Agreement. All of us know, and I think it was Bertie Herdon may have used the phrase in the late 1990s, that the Good Friday Agreement was not just about the absence of violence, and we're not in any way diminishing the importance of violence having ended on our island, thankfully. But it was emphasised at that time by Bertie Herdon, by Tony Blair, as head of the British Government, and by George Mitchell, and the party leaders, who all were signatories to that agreement, that there would be a lot of work to be done to ensure that the Good Friday Agreement was implemented, that it wasn't an agreement that was just put in place and all the work was done. I think the clear message was that governments and political parties would have to work hard to ensure that all aspects of that agreement would be implemented for the benefit of all the people on this island, and unfortunately that hasn't happened. My understanding, and maybe you correct me if I'm wrong, is that the Bill of Rights would have been a matter of responsibility for the British Government, and unfortunately it has not been implemented. And would you believe that the absence of an executive and assembly at the minute leaves a leadership role vacant when you don't have a function in an executive or assembly, that there's a huge lacuna vacuum there in driving issues forward that are of critical importance to the people of Northern Ireland, and of importance to all of our island? Because I think there's a huge onus on both the Irish and British Governments and the political parties in Stormont, and particularly the executive and the assembly, to ensure that they would be working to implement the mandate that was given to all of us through the referenda North and South in May 1998, when the Good Friday Agreement was overwhelmingly endorsed. So at the minute that political mandate that has been given to all of us, North and South, is not being implemented, unfortunately, and our society is the worst off for that. With regard to your comments in your initial contribution, you mentioned about a near permanent close relationship for Northern Ireland with the European Union post-Brexit. I sincerely hope that you're right in that view, because Brexit is going to happen, from what we see naturally, we would prefer it if it didn't. But the withdrawal agreement that's there now is a lesser agreement from an Irish point of view than Mrs May's agreement. And I think there's a lot of lack of clarity in what will happen post-Britain, even the European Union. And I think when you think of it, the Secretary of State for Brexit, when he was asked in the immediate aftermath of Mr Johnston to get an agreement with the European Union, he indicated that there would be no paperwork needed in regard to customs regulations between Britain and Northern Ireland. Half an hour later, he had to correct himself and say that there would be documentation and determinations needed. Now, I remember reading a quote from a former permanent secretary of that British department, the Department for Leave in the European Union, where he instanced that the customs regulations would pose particular difficulties, that it was not straightforward. And he used a phrase that you will probably associate with my part of the country south of Ulster more than you would with the City of London. He said that the customs regulations would be ferociously complicated. So that wasn't indicating that things would be simple or that there would be very easy arrangements to put in place. We sincerely hope that that's not correct, because the best possible relationship between Britain and the European Union, we all understand, is essential for the good of our country. And we want to try to minimise the obstacles to trade and the obstacles to us going about our everyday living. So I just welcome your highlighting of the issues that need to be progressed. And I would believe that a wider public debate is essential on these important subjects and the absolute need to implement those outstanding elements of the Good Friday Agreement that have not yet been implemented for the benefit of the people. Thank you for hearing, Luke.
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