Northern Ireland

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Villiers]

Given the sensitivity of issues relating to national flags, yes, one does need to be cautious in terms of how the flag is approached in political debate. Certainly, any kind of inflammatory approach to these issues is not helpful. The key lies in dialogue and learning from past successes in the peace process where many more intractable issues have been resolved and compromises have been found. There is a real opportunity for the political parties, working together, to find a resolution on this. I welcome last night’s statements from the DUP and the Ulster Unionist party that they want to start such a dialogue.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

I, too, express solidarity with the hon. Member for Belfast East (Naomi Long), who has shown great courage and dignity in the light of the attacks that she has suffered, and with all our colleagues from Northern Ireland—our valued colleagues in this place—who operate in a political environment in the north of Ireland which perhaps some of us can never fully understand. What is the Secretary of State going to do to make sure that this dialogue between the political parties takes place? It is all very well for us here in this House to express our condemnations of violence, but what needs to be done on the ground is to ensure that the political parties agree that they will operate with statesmanship and not just through rhetoric.

[Mrs Villiers]

I am very happy to engage in whatever way would be found helpful by the Northern Ireland parties. I echo the hon. Gentleman’s praise for hon. Members from Northern Ireland and the tremendous work that they do for all their constituents. Matters relating to the flag raise difficult issues. This is an opportunity for me, and indeed for the whole House, again to endorse the need to address sectarian barriers. There is very good work going on by the Northern Ireland Executive on things such as shared education—for example, getting schools working together so that children have an experience of being educated alongside those from other faiths. A lot of work has gone into the Executive’s cohesion, sharing and integration strategy. There is the will to make the change. The Northern Ireland parties have delivered phenomenal success in changing in the past, and it is now time to press ahead further and faster in addressing the sectarian barriers and moving towards a genuinely shared, cohesive and integrated society.