BRITAIN IS Ireland’s closest friend on the world stage, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told an assembly of parliamentarians from both jurisdictions at Leinster House yesterday.
He said the two-day plenary of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in the Seanad chamber at Leinster House was “a historic and important occasion”.
His audience included elected representatives from parliaments and assemblies throughout Britain and Ireland, including unionist members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Mr Kenny said the “ground-breaking” visit of Queen Elizabeth last year had “marked a turning point” in relations between the two countries.
“It was an emotional time for everyone involved,” the Taoiseach said.
He added that the “totality of this British-Irish relationship” had become still deeper since then.
The Taoiseach said both governments had “an ongoing duty of care” to the partnership established in Northern Ireland.
“The Good Friday agreement was truly a significant and historic document,” he said.
He added that, while “peace at political level is very important, it is at the community level that breakdowns can occur”.
With regard to the European Union’s economic agenda, the British and Irish governments were “very much on the same page”.
As well as being Ireland’s “most important economic partner”, he said that “Britain is our nearest neighbour and our closest friend on the world stage”.
Commenting on the May 31st referendum, he said it “gives Irish people an opportunity to create stability and certainty”.
He had “a very good discussion” with France’s president-elect François Hollande last week.
“His philosophy is to reorientate the European agenda towards growth; I favour that very strongly,” Mr Kenny said.
Deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party John McCallister said the EU should “move back to job creation and growth”, with less emphasis on regulation.
In a discussion on healthcare co-operation, Democratic Unionist Party MLA Jim Wells said if he had been told 20 years ago that he would visit Leinster House and speak there, he would not have believed it.
But now he was sitting in a chamber where the members included “the famous Mr Norris, whom we all watched with great interest”.
Mr Wells urged Minister for Health Dr James Reilly to co-operate with the Northern Ireland Assembly to reduce “binge-drinking”, which was causing “huge social problems”.
Independent Senator and cancer specialist John Crown praised aspects of Britain’s healthcare record but criticised the difficulty of access to cancer drugs.
Emphasising he was speaking as a healthcare professional and not a politician, he said the scarcity of access to cancer drugs in the UK was “off the bottom of the scale” and “nothing short of a scandal”.
Dr Reilly welcomed Dr Crown’s suggestion that a date in 2025 or 2030 should be set for a ban on the “manufacture, importation and sale” of cigarettes.
Dr Reilly said: “Does anyone know a smoker who wants their children to be smoking?”
Dr Maurice Manning, who chairs a Government advisory group on centenary commemorations, said it was “important that a good tone be established early on”.
He added that there should be “no sense of triumphalism” and “no promotion of any particular reading of history”.
Darina Allen of the Ballymaloe Cookery School said there were “huge opportunities” for creating jobs in the food tourism sector.
