Does the Taoiseach accept that while the outcome of the Assembly elections represents the democratic wishes of the people of Northern Ireland and, therefore, must be respected, the permutation thrown up is likely to make more difficult the restoration of the Executive and the institutions? Does he accept that majority support among the Unionist community for the Agreement is no longer there and does he have any proposals on how that majority support within the Unionist community might be restored? Does he believe the failure of the republican movement to live up to its obligations under the Agreement in respect of decommissioning has played into the hands of the DUP and that the outcome is likely to be the exclusion of Sinn Féin and other parties from devolved Government in Northern Ireland? Does he believe the exclusion of the SDLP in the run-up to the elections and for a prolonged period before that has contributed to the circumstances in which it now finds itself? Does he have any regrets about the manner in which the SDLP was excluded?

As regards the review, I know the Taoiseach made some public remarks about this at the weekend. When does he envisage the review being initiated? What form will it take and does he have any idea of how long it might take? Does he have any confidence that it will lead to the restoration of the institutions in Northern Ireland?

I will try to answer the Deputy's questions as quickly and as fully as I can. The outcome of the election makes matters more difficult. It is not easy, given the combinations that now exist, to form an inclusive, working Executive. We must deal with the democratic wishes of the people in Northern Ireland and try to achieve one, but it will certainly not be as straightforward as it would have been had it involved the UUP, SDLP, Sinn Féin and the pro-Agreement parties in general. A number of changes in the position since the election will make it difficult and not just the one factor that has been focused on, namely, the DUP.

More than 70% of the next Executive, if we can establish it, will comprise pro-Agreement candidates, which is a high percentage. All the opinion polls on the election, including RTE's extensive poll last week, show two thirds of the people in favour of devolution. All the parties are in favour of devolution, even if they differ on how it can be achieved.

The Government will attempt to engage in dialogue with all the parties. I hope that is possible. I have stated publicly that we will be glad to meet them as soon as possible. I have already been contacted by the SDLP and Sinn Féin with the aim of meeting as soon as possible, which we will do.

On this day four years ago, 2 December 1999, the institutions of the Agreement were signed. There was an agreement that there would be a review after four years, and this falls due today. Letters will be issued tomorrow or the next day to the parties. The review was for parties to reflect on the past four years and to give their views on the institutions and their workings. Even though it is coincidental, it will be useful. It is broad enough for people to be able to say almost anything. We will have to study their views and proceed to dialogue and discussion.

I hope some of that will begin before Christmas, but realistically, other than preliminary meetings, it is unlikely that the detailed work will begin before the new year. That is the realistic position. I look forward to a review because we will make progress if people take their business seriously and positively. The early indications suggest all the parties will.

I was asked about the positions of both the SDLP and Sinn Féin. I will deal with Sinn Féin first. It is a pity that some of the issues with which we have dealt for the past year or so could not have been brought forward more quickly. It has been more than a year since the act of completions paper, which both the Prime Minister, Mr. Blair and I supported, was produced. That is a long time ago.

The institutions collapsed because of alleged spying by Sinn Féin in Stormont. We were not able to make progress despite considered efforts in the spring and autumn. We achieved an act of decommissioning in the autumn but, unfortunately, the regulations surrounding that did not allow us to make the necessary progress. Although these regulations were known and the IRA representative and General John de Chastelain adhered to them, they were prohibitive and did not allow us to make the necessary progress. Much has been made of the allegation that I knew that and did not do anything about it. Unfortunately, I could not change the rules, nor was I engaged in the discussions with the IRA representative to enable them to be changed. I tried to get General John De Chastelain to change them, which he attempted to do last summer but for which he was not able to get agreement. This created a difficulty.

The SDLP has played an enormously constructive role in everything we have done over the years and especially since the spring of 1998. I am grateful for the work of Mark Durkan and his colleagues. They did not do as well as they would have liked, but they certainly did not do so badly, as neither did the UUP which increased its vote.

I do not accept the SDLP's position on being marginalised. I would like to be able to agree with it for the sake of agreeing but I cannot. I do not accept the argument. I do not want to get into an argument about this in the aftermath of the election, but for Deputy Rabbitte's information, the week before, representatives of the SDLP had an exclusive meeting with the British Prime Minister, Mr. Blair, the following week they met the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, and a few days later they met me. The party's argument does not stand up. The two hour meeting with the UUP and Sinn Féin at which I had recommended the SDLP's attendance was on a specific issue in which the SDLP had no part. I have already expressed the view that too much was made of it and it does not hold up.

I look forward to proceeding with the review. I hope the Democratic Unionist Party adopts an enabling, not a disabling, role. I will be as constructive as I possibly can and look forward to trying to deal with the party. I know its position has tended towards not meeting the Irish Government. However, it put forward four issues in the election. It said it wants an arrangement that would ensure stability, something with which I have no argument given the collapse of the institutions on four occasions during the lifetime of the agreement. It wants an accountable arrangement, something with which I have no difficulty, and also an efficient and effective arrangement. It left out the word "inclusive". If it adds that to its agenda, we can all work towards finding a solution.

To go back to the old days of ignoring other people's mandate and the fact of their election and denying that they have a role to play in an inclusive Assembly and Executive will cause major difficulties. I will not cause them but there will be no agreement from Sinn Féin, the SDLP, or the northern Nationalist and republican community. However, Mr. Robinson has said that he is prepared to work towards a resolution that would satisfy all communities – republican, Nationalist, loyalist and Unionist. On that basis we can all work to try to achieve it, and the quicker the better.

Does the Taoiseach not agree that the SDLP is justified in feeling that it was too little too late, notwithstanding the meetings to which he referred, and that in the substantial period leading up to the elections, the exclusion of the SDLP permitted Mr. Adams and his colleagues to depict themselves as the only champions of the Good Friday Agreement? Has the Taoiseach invited the DUP to talks, and if he has, what has been the response?

When the Taoiseach says that the review is wide enough to allow a discussion on anything, is he saying that there is a narrow dividing line between review and renegotiation? Does he accept that, if there were to be textual changes to either the British-Irish Agreement or the multi-party agreement, it would involve a Constitutional referendum at least in this jurisdiction? Assuming broad support for that, would he be well disposed towards it?

Does the Taoiseach accept that the impasse created by the outcome of the elections means in all probability that we now face a prolonged period of direct rule while the review is under way. I understood the Taoiseach to say that the review is likely to commence early in the new year. Does he hope that the review as envisaged can encompass a sufficiently wide approach to the impasse to facilitate the involvement of the DUP?

The review is provided for in paragraph 8 of the Good Friday Agreement and, as I have said, was scheduled to take place when the Government signed the British-Irish Agreement, which came into effect when the constitutional changes were made. The review allows the parties represented in the last Assembly to put forward their opinions on how the institutions operated and to give a broad account, in writing, of how they see the operation of the Agreement. It gives people a chance to provide a narrative of how they see the position. It will be different when we get down to discussions. The Governments will need to assess the results of the review, pinpoint areas of disagreement and initiate discussions and meaningful dialogue on these. I am not saying the review will allow for everything but people's response to what has happened in the past four years cannot be restricted and there is no point in doing so. If people say they will not talk to representatives of another party or take extreme positions. the discussions will not get anywhere. They will be able to put forward a presentation, however.

I publicly stated that we would meet any party and the SDLP and Sinn Féin have indicated that they will meet us. The DUP has not yet communicated an intention to meet but we will do everything we can to ensure this happens. I think it is possible to have a meeting but I do not want to press the issue until there has been some exchange on how best to arrange it. It is not necessary to rush matters. The DUP and other parties will want to work out their own tactics, particularly the DUP, which has never engaged in meetings with the Irish Government. Mr. Robinson has said he will meet us, however, and I assume that will happen.

Direct rule will continue, as will the suspension of the institutions. The latter will continue for some time, but if the suspension is lifted the law indicates that an Assembly and an Executive should be formed within six weeks. If that is not done there can be a further suspension or another election – I assume there would be a further suspension. It is unlikely the British Government will lift the suspension, at least until we have had talks. The position will remain the same as it has been for most of the past 14 months. The key issues are how we can re-establish devolution and examine the submissions to the review to get workable solutions from them.

In regard to the SDLP I will not repeat what I have said except that the Government had more meetings with the SDLP than with Sinn Féin. There was a lot of dialogue around Sinn Féin and the UUP and, as I said many times, the reason is that Sinn Féin was still associated with a paramilitary organisation and the SDLP was not. The aim was to separate the organisations and drive paramilitarism out of Irish politics, but we have not yet succeeded in doing that. We must continue to work on this in the future.