Today the Taoiseach is meeting the British Prime Minister in the North to try to find a solution to three issues - flags, parades and the past. I hope that he will raise the issues on the current and ongoing tapping of communication systems in Ireland and to the outside world from Ireland that appears to be going on as revealed by Edward Snowden.

In terms of the past, the Taoiseach should also raise the issue of hooded men, a case that the Government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the courts by those victims of torture, to ensure that the Irish Government prevented future torture and victims of torture. The British Government used the justification of the EU court ruling almost four decades ago. Also, I wish to mention the BBC "Panorama" programme that raised the issue of a previous Prime Minister having knowledge of killings by British army units in the North. I hope the Taoiseach will raise those issues but his track record in standing up for the Irish people is not great. As we have seen, the Government has failed to burn the bondholders and failed to get a write-down in the debt.

Fianna Fáil had better opportunities to resolve those issues.