SEANAD REPORT: Mr Brendan Ryan (Lab) asked if a recipe was not being provided for allowing wreckers in a restored Northern Ireland Assembly to destroy cross-Border implementation bodies. He was speaking in the debate on the British-Irish Agreement (Amendment) Bill, which passed all stages.

Introducing the Bill, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, said the measure was necessary to give effect in domestic legislation to agreed temporary changes in the governance of the North/South bodies following on the suspension of some of the Northern institutions.

Mr Brian Hayes, Fine Gael leader in the Seanad, noted that the proposed legislation could be made to expire by an order of the Taoiseach.

Asking why there was only a reference to the restoration of the Assembly, he suggested that it would be more logical to make the lapse of the Bill dependent on a Northern Ireland executive being up and running.

What would be the status of the Bill if there was no agreement on the formation of an executive after assembly elections?

Mr Kitt said this was a hypothetical matter. He thought the two governments would then have to decide what to do.

Mr Ryan said the Bill was quite profound in how it defined relationships between this country and the UK. It was probably the first time since 1922 that the British goverment had executive authority in this part of Ireland.