There have been encouraging reports since yesterday from the talks aimed at resolving the very serious situation on the Garvaghy Road. I would imagine that everybody in this House, and indeed outside it, hopes that these discussions lead to a breakthrough. The people of the Garvaghy Road and this community have shown extraordinary integrity, dignity and resilience throughout this period. They have stood together as a community, calmly but firmly, in defence of their right to live in peace and without an unwanted march being imposed upon them. Their strength and dignity have resonated far beyond Portadown. They have received solidarity and support from across this island, while events on the Garvaghy Road have attracted attention far beyond Ireland. This community has carried the scars of Drumcree for decades but which has nevertheless built and protected nearly 30 years of peace. Their strength and dignity throughout these difficult days deserve acknowledgement in this House. What is needed now is sustained engagement at the most senior level in this State to ensure that a positive way forward is secured.

This cannot be treated simply as a dispute over an Orange march through the Garvaghy Road community because what has happened over recent days has reopened one of the most sensitive and dangerous wounds in our modern history. A co-ordinated campaign has been pursued to push an unwanted sectarian and triumphalist march through a nationalist community which has lived without that confrontation for almost three decades, and the consequences extend far beyond the Garvaghy Road. It risks deepening division, destabilising politics across the North, and damaging confidence in the agreements and political relationships which have sustained peace for almost 30 years. It could also place at risk the accommodations that have developed around Orange Order marches across the North, where nationalist communities have shown enormous generosity and restraint in accommodating marches with which they profoundly disagree.

This is why both Governments must be fully and directly engaged. The British and the Irish Governments are co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. Indeed, the people of the Garvaghy Road look to the Irish Government for leadership, and at moments of serious political difficulty in the past, progress was made because Governments engaged intensively and at the highest political level. While progress in talks is welcome - and we are all watching what is happening - there can be no ambiguity about what a sustainable solution must achieve. It cannot leave the community under the continuing threat of an unwanted Orange march being forced down the Garvaghy Road because for almost three decades this community has lived without an Orange march being imposed upon it, and this peace has to be maintained.

What direct political engagement has the Irish Government had with the British Government over the course of this crisis? Have the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach spoken with the British Prime Minister or with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland? Has the Government made clear to its British counterparts that any durable, sustainable resolution must mean that no Orange march is forced down the Garvaghy Road? Will the Tánaiste give a commitment in the House that the Irish Government will remain actively and intensively engaged at the highest political level until a peaceful and a lasting resolution is secured?

I will start with the Deputy's final point and say, yes, the Irish Government will be involved at all levels and at the highest level in relation to this ongoing, tense and concerning issue. I think everybody in the House would agree that we have come much too far to ever go back, when it comes to the North. We all agree on that. In many ways this is not simply a Green versus Orange issue. It is actually an issue of whether people want to go forward or backwards, and we all want to move forward. I believe there are significant majorities across communities in the North, across the island of Ireland and across these islands that want us to move forward together and never return to the past, despite the fact there is enduring hurt from the past, which I want to acknowledge. I met residents from the Garvaghy Road in Leinster House last Thursday. I was struck by two things when I met them. First, I was struck by the really good work that has gone on in that community over a sustained period. I was particularly struck by the commentary around youth work. Later in the week I heard residents from the Garvaghy Road on radio talking about how communities now mix and how children play and move around in their lives regardless of political tradition or religious background. Real progress has been made.

I was struck by something else, though. When I met the residents last Thursday, it was before the Parades Commission's decision, and there was still a hope at that time that the decision would not go the way it went. The residents told me in no uncertain terms that there had been a level of trauma and re-traumatisation caused over the course of those days, even if the Parades Commission had ruled that the parade could not go ahead. That is real too and we will have to return to that as a government, as a country and as a people.

Now is the time for all of us to be very calm and for people like me to be careful in what we say. There is that history of hurt around Drumcree. It is an extraordinarily sensitive and painful situation. We all want to protect the gains that have been made through the peace process for people across the island and there is a responsibility on everyone to contribute positively to finding a way through this situation.

I welcome the exploratory discussions that are taking place with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Like the Deputy, I have read and heard some positive feedback in relation to that in recent hours. My colleague, the Minister for foreign affairs, Deputy McEntee, has been in daily contact with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland as well as meeting him in the North in recent days. The Taoiseach has been in regular contact with the British Prime Minister. Both of them and both Governments share the commitment to upholding the Good Friday Agreement and the immeasurable gains that have been made through that agreement over the past almost three decades.

At an official level as well, as the Deputy and his party will know, there is ongoing contact with a number of stakeholders, including residents from the Garvaghy Road residents' coalition. I have had a number of discussions with the Deputy's party leader. The Taoiseach and I met the Deputy's party leader as well as vice president earlier this week. We should all continue to keep in contact.

I am conscious that a further appeal against the Parades Commission decision is listed to be heard in the Court of Appeal tomorrow, I believe. This is a submission by the Garvaghy Road residents' coalition. I will not comment on any matters before the courts other than to say I think we all share the view that it would be desirable if the talks got us to a point where we could find a way forward. Huge progress has been made over many years. Northern Ireland is in such a different and better place and a return to the divisions of the past is unthinkable. There is a responsibility on all of us in positions of leadership to make sure we find a way through this together.

The Orange sectarian state of the past is gone, and is not coming back, not today, not tomorrow or not ever. The peace obviously must be maintained. The nationalist community is strong, confident and resilient, as are the people who live on the Garvaghy Road, and they simply want to live in peace. A generation has lived without confrontation and without sectarian marches being imposed on them. Obviously, it was the wrong decision in the first place to allow that parade to go ahead. Many people from across nationalist Ireland, and I would say some within unionism, are looking on and saying, "Who are these people who are trying to bring us back to the past?" They have to be faced down and it cannot be allowed to happen.

As I said, there are talks ongoing. I want those talks to succeed but we also have to send very strong signals of solidarity with the residents of that community that the dark days of the past, and those images and the murders and all that happened, are never ever going to happen again. What will the Irish Government be doing over the next number of days in relation to its engagement with the British Government and the Secretary of State?

In all fairness, I think I have very clearly answered that question. We will be continuing to stay involved at the highest levels, and at all levels political and official, with counterparts and interlocutors in the British Government and the Secretary of State, with the community and residents, and with political parties and political leaders in the North, including Deputy Cullinane's party leadership as well.

I have been very clear, as has the Taoiseach, in our view regarding the decision of the Parades Commission. We have a very clear view on that. I do not want to say anything at this moment in time when people are endeavouring to try to find a resolution in good faith in the talks, and those talks need to continue.

It is important in any shared future and any shared island that we all respect each other's cultures. Of that there is no doubt and Deputy Cullinane has said that too. Every single year, thousands of parades take place across the North and most of them pass off, thankfully and rightfully, without incident. We must all respect each other's cultures. We all know, though, that when it comes to Drumcree there is a very particular sensitivity, hurt and trauma and we cannot allow the retraumatisation of the community. That is the context. It is not about parades being good or bad or who can celebrate or commemorate their tradition or culture. There has to be a place for all cultures. We all know, and Deputy Cullinane knows it well, there is a particular history attached to Drumcree that everyone is aware of in the North across traditions. That is what cannot be lost in the conversations in the hours and days ahead.