I am sure the House will agree that we expressed a sense of grave disappointment at the failure to conclude the talks in Hillsborough yesterday in respect of the completion of the Good Friday Agreement. I received a telephone call earlier this morning from the Department of the Taoiseach to request the Taoiseach be allowed to stay away from the House for a while, as the talks concluded late last night or early this morning. Arising from that can the Tánaiste outline a timetable to resurrect the talks to the point where they might be completed?

Given that both the British Prime Minister and the Taoiseach were very much against the postponement of the elections beyond 1 May and the real possibility that an invasion of Iraq might take place which will obviously divert the attentions of the British Prime Minister, is there not now a serious possibility that these talks and all the work, discussions and deliberations that have taken place over the past five years will begin to unravel? This is very serious for the entire island of Ireland following the consent given in a referendum by the people, both North and South, to the Good Friday Agreement. Does the Taoiseach intend coming in here today to give a statement to the House and allow us to discuss this? Can the Tánaiste indicate the timetable set out by both Governments to attempt to resurrect the talks to a point where they can be concluded successfully?

I am sure the House would wish to join me in commending the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister as well as all the parties for their hard work over the past two days. There were 30 hours of intensive and substantive talks and this was an exercise in optimism and trust. While there have been difficulties nobody should underestimate the progress that was made.

The intention is for the two Governments to meet the parties again in early April to put proposals to them. I believe the parties are aware privately what those proposals are and there is now a period of reflection for the parties to sell those proposals to their members. During the talks process everybody recognised it was preferable to delay the elections from 1 May to 29 May so that the appropriate time would be given to parties to sell the new proposals to their electorate before they go to the polls. That is understandable and appropriate in the circumstances.

I am not certain of the Taoiseach's intentions for today; I have not spoken to him yet this morning. However, I am certain the Government would be available to brief the Opposition parties and maybe later in the day we could discuss what form that might take.

This side of the House offers its full support to the efforts of Government to achieve success in this. I share the Tánaiste's view that this was an exercise in trust. Can the Tánaiste confirm whether the issue of sanctions was the single dividing point and that all sides seemed to be in favour of this with the exception of Sinn Féin? At a recent meeting I attended in Belfast, it was made clear to us that Sinn Féin does not represent the IRA, but had influence over it. If that was the single point of real division, what attempts will be made to have Sinn Féin use its expressed influence over the IRA to bring about conclusion?

Given the likely diversion of attention by the British Prime Minister, this is now really urgent and is critical to the future reputation of the entire island of Ireland. In so far as this side of the House can give any assistance towards concluding these matters, that will be readily forthcoming.

I very much appreciate what Deputy Kenny has said and the constructive role Fine Gael has played in the talks process, not just in recent days but also in the past. I have been briefed on the talks and it would not be helpful to start speculating as to where the area of disagreement might be or what areas of difficulty remain. In all processes of this kind there are requirements on various parties and enormous courage and determination is required. The parties now have a period in which to reflect. That is a very good thing and the Governments will come forward with their proposals in early April, but the parties are in no doubt as to the shape of those proposals.

The elections in May will give an opportunity to the electorate in Northern Ireland to place their trust and support in those who have taken huge risks for peace. It is therefore important that we consolidate and resolve in the first incidence all the remaining outstanding issues to allow us to consolidate the enormous progress that has been made since the Good Friday Agreement so that all the institutions can be put into effect again as quickly as possible.