Approximately £4 million has been allocated in this round to address issues arising from the situation in north Belfast. That comprises the cost of the package of measures announced by the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister on 3 December, additional work to the roads in the area and additional funding for the SPED scheme. That money could have been used to address pressures in the Health Service, for example. However, I am sure that the Members who represent the area will agree that it is important to recognise that the area is considerably disadvantaged. This spending will bring some additional benefits to the local community, particularly through the measures that address community safety, infrastructure and education.

The Budget provision for the SPED programme is £9 million, with expenditure to the end of November amounting to £8 million. To date there have been approximately 187 applications, and the anticipated expenditure is now £12 million. That additional provision will ensure that the Housing Executive can continue to assist those people who have been forced to evacuate their homes for security reasons, without taking resources from other areas.

I particularly welcome the additional £14 million for public transport, roads and water. I also welcome the extra money allocated under Peace II for various categories of activity. Can the Minister confirm that some Peace II money will be allocated to gap funding for particular sustainable projects? How can the local strategy partnerships bid for extra Peace II money beyond their district council allocations from departmental money?

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Gap funding does precisely what the name suggests - it deals with the needs of particular projects that are likely to benefit from Peace II funding. It is to help projects cross the gap between Peace I funding and Peace II funding with as little difficulty as possible. I pointed out that the allocations within additional resources set aside to meet such projects would have to be carefully scrutinised. It may well be that some projects that receive gap funding might not become eligible for funding under the Peace II programme. Therefore, as my statement indicated, gap funding will provide a soft landing for such projects.

As regards local strategy partnerships and the funding to be made available for projects under the measures for which they will have responsibility, concerns have been raised about the allocations that are being made under the determining formula. Additional funding is available under measures in Peace II other than those for which the local strategy partnerships are primarily responsible. Concerns have been raised particularly in rural areas, but these are not the only sources of support for the types of projects that it is hoped will be promoted in the overall context of the Peace II programme.

I also welcome the Minister to his new responsibility and wish him well. He has already clearly established that he must do his homework well when dealing with questions from my Colleague Mr Close. I trust that he will progressively improve his standards over the years.

He has already indicated one thing in answer to other questions - that it would be helpful if he were to publish a list of the bids received as well as those recommended. For example, it emerged only in cross- questioning this morning that the bids from the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety have been met in full. It would be interesting for Members to see a consolidated list, rather than the items that emerge only through individual Committees.

Secondly, on the issue of health, the Minister referred specifically to the need for longer-term solutions and not quick fixes. How is that position compatible with the fact that while additional hospital and community health pressures attracted £4·5 million, the Department for Regional Development appears to be getting almost £2 million just for salary increases and wages and inflationary pressures, all of which should have been entirely foreseeable at the start of the year? Why can a Department that is not supposed to be a priority get such a large amount compared with the Department that everybody in the Chamber acknowledges is the priority?

I return to the point that I have made on several occasions - we have met the bids that we were asked to meet. If you meet 100% of a bid you cannot go much beyond that. The Department of Finance and Personnel was asked for a certain amount of money, and we met the bid that was made. Issues relating to whether the Department should make a larger bid are matters that might be taken up by the Committee. It is not for me to answer for a Department as to why it made a particular bid.

That goes for any of the Departments for which the Executive have responsibility. The answer to Mr Ford's first question is "Yes". We will put the information requested in Members' pigeonholes later this afternoon.

I welcome the Minister's commitment to an examination of the monitoring system and how it will be affected in the future. The Speaker told Prof McWilliams that the Committees' role in the submission of monitoring round bids might be looked at.

However, unlike Mr Close and, apparently, Mr Ford, I welcome the allocation to the Department for Regional Development - it is long overdue. Obviously Mr Ford and Mr Close do not understand the relationship between good roads that give accessibility to the rural population - [Interruption].

That is not what it - [Interruption].

Order.

- in being able to reach facilities. They obviously do not understand the importance of clean water to good health. When you are getting a sound bite you obviously produce effluent; that has to be got rid of, and the Department for Regional Development takes care of that.

I am seeking the Minister's insight on learndirect from his previous role in the Department for Employment and Learning. I understand that there are four district council areas where the network has not yet been established. Strabane is one of them, and my Colleague Mr Beggs reminds me that Larne is another. Can we, through the allocation being awarded, complete the learndirect network? With regard to local strategy partnerships and the areas that have been slightly underfunded previously, does the Minister not agree that many of the other measures are dependent on the district co-ordination that was afforded through the district partnerships and now through the local strategy partnerships?

Sorry, I was distracted. Would the Member please repeat the second question?

With regard to the local strategy partnerships allocation and the reduction in some areas, will the Minister not admit that he has referred to the other measures whereby funding could be achieved, but the overarching district co-ordination of local strategy partnerships is important in ensuring that that funding can be accessed?

Learndirect is the responsibility of the Department for Employment and Learning. It is not in my remit to answer directly on the development of the learndirect centres. They were being rolled out when I had responsibility for that Department. It was anticipated that 30 or more would be in place during the year. It is more appropriate that my Colleague, the Minister for Employment and Learning, Carmel Hanna, should address issues related to the matters for which she has responsibility.

The involvement of the district councils and the social partners in local strategy partnerships should provide a role for those partnerships that would enable them to look at the general issues related to the development of the areas for which they have responsibility. While they may not have direct responsibility for allocations of other funding, the strategic role, which is captured in their title, would afford them the opportunity to look beyond the immediate allocations for which they have responsibility.

I recently stressed the expectation that those local strategy partnerships would outlast the Peace II funding period. I also stressed that there may be a role for them in a strategic planning and overview capacity beyond that period.

I congratulate the Minister on his recent appointment and welcome his statement. I also welcome the increased allocation of almost £1 million to north Belfast, which demonstrates the Executive's continued commitment to addressing the distressing situation in north Belfast. Will the Minister outline how that money is to be spent? I note the emphasis placed on rebuilding community relations.

Minister, I must ask you to be brief. We must finish on the hour.

The details of the bid recommended are that the Department of Education has been allocated £230,000 for the north Belfast package, and the Belfast Education and Library Board will receive an additional £265,000 in the February monitoring round; the Department for Regional Development has been allocated £300,000 for roads in the area; through the SPED scheme, the Department for Social Development has been allocated £3 million; and £150,000 has been allocated to the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister for the north Belfast package. That is how the total amount of £3·945 million will be spent departmentally.

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Did the Speaker not rule that if a Member were not in the Chamber for a ministerial statement he would not be permitted to ask a question? A Member who was not present for Dr Farren's statement was permitted to ask a question. Several Members asked multiple questions, yet other Members sat for an hour and a half without being able to ask their questions.

You are correct, Mr O'Connor. A note was made of the Members present when the Minister made his statement. In one case since I came into the Chair, a Member was allowed to ask a question because he was present for the major part of the Minister's statement, and so some licence was granted. I am not aware of any other instance.

I refer to Mr Ford.

Thank you for that information, Mr O'Connor.

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Will Hansard be checked with regard to the Minister's answer to my question? He said that because he was not the Minister responsible he could not provide an answer. However, the Minister earlier gave an answer to his party Colleague Mrs Courtney on a specific question about the North West Institute of Further and Higher Education.

The best way to elicit that information is to write directly to the Minister. We must move on.

On a point of order, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Will the Minister's civil servants read Hansard in order to address those questions that were not answered by the Minister today?

I have already said that if Members feel that a full answer was not given, they are free to write to the Minister.

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Chaulnes Area

Dr Adamson:

I beg to move

I thank my co-sponsors for tabling the motion. In June 1895 the last great Government in the Western World to exhibit all the characteristics of ancient aristocracy took office in England. For the most part they were great landowners and country gentlemen who regarded union with Ireland as sacrosanct and who proudly became the Unionist party to resist the attempts of Mr Gladstone to introduce home rule for Ireland.

They were extremely talented individuals. In that year the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava was British ambassador to Paris, and was well respected by the French. He wrote in his diary that besides reading 11 plays of Aristotle in Greek he had learned, by heart, 24,000 words from the Persian dictionary, 8,000 perfectly, 12,000 pretty well and 4,000 imperfectly.

In 1861 Lord Dufferin built the famous Helen's Tower on his estate at Clandeboye outside Bangor, County Down. It was originally a gamekeeper's residence constructed with the aid of labourers who were made destitute by the recent Great Famine in Ireland. It enshrines today the memory of Helen, the Dowager Lady Dufferin, author of 'The Irish Emigrant', who died in 1867 of breast cancer.

The tower is particularly beautiful, and it was immortalised by the great poets of the age. At the other end of the road that leads to it is the village of Conlig, where a little cottage stands in which William Sloan, my grandmother's cousin, was born. At the age of 19 William joined the 11th Royal Irish Rifles. It became part of the 36th (Ulster) Division, which was formed from the Ulster Volunteer Force under extraordinary political circumstances.

The first world war stands like a searing scar across the face of human history. Time had stood still since the age of Moses and the patriarchs, but the great war was to change that and the whole world forever. Following the outbreak of the war, the British Army raised 82 battalions in Ireland by the end of 1914, of which Ulster contributed 42. Out of 145,000 voluntary recruits from Ireland, Ulster contributed approximately 75,000. No fewer than 46,000 recruits were from Belfast, which stood second on the roll of British cities for numbers of recruits in proportion to population until the imposition of universal service.

In addition to the famous 36th (Ulster) Division, there were six battalions of the regular Army from Ulster, five Ulster battalions from the 10th (Irish) Division and five more in the 16th (Irish) Division. Inspired by old family traditions, many Ulstermen chose to enlist in Scottish battalions such as the 6th Black Watch and 4th Seaforth Highlanders, who also had a recruiting office in Belfast. These formed part of the 51st (Highland) Division. Others joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. There were also many Ulstermen in the London Irish, the Church Lads' battalion of the King's Royal Rifles, the Bantam battalions and the Royal Scots, Cheshires and Sherwood Foresters. Besides the recruits from Ireland, many men who had been born in Ulster were to be found in the Dominion troops, especially among the Canadians, with whom two Ulstermen won the Victoria Cross.

The advance of the 36th (Ulster) Division at the commencement of the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916, when they sustained 5,500 casualties, is perhaps the most memorable single episode of the war, and it stands as one of the finest displays of human courage in the history of mankind.

Then, in September 1916, the 16th (Irish) Division entered the Somme battlefields with an equal display of courage at the battles of Guillemont and Ginchy. This division was mainly Nationalist in origin and included within its ranks many members of the National Volunteers, including 600 men of the Connaught Rangers from the Falls Road area of west Belfast, and B company of the 6th Royal Irish, which was composed exclusively of Derry Nationalists. In the first days of September it lost 200 out of 435 officers and 4,090 out of 10,410 men from other ranks among its infantry and engineer units. However, in doing so it gave Ireland a national character in Europe. It was the like of those men who made the Irish nation.

On the site of the advance of William and his comrades at Thiepval, a handsome memorial tower was erected by public subscription raised in the North of Ireland in memory of the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the 36th (Ulster) Division, the sons of Ulster in other forces who died in the Great War and all their comrades-in-arms who were spared to return. The tower - modelled on Helen's Tower at Clandeboye, where William and his comrades had trained near to his home - was opened on 19 November 1921 by Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson, chief of the imperial general staff. On 1 July 1989, under the auspices of the Farset youth and community development programme, it was rededicated in the presence of HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Veterans of the Great War, including the 36th (Ulster) Division, were accompanied to the ceremony by dignitaries and public representatives from throughout Northern Ireland, some of whom are present in the Chamber today. It is presently administered by the Somme Association, of which I am Chairman.

Every 1 July we go with the Somme Association, the Farset organisation, the Ulster Society and Thiepval Memorial LOL 1916 to visit Thiepval and the great memorial by Sir Edward Lutyens, on which William's name is inscribed. On that day we commemorate the sacrifice of our loved ones who died for freedom. We do not seek to glorify war; rather we seek to see that it does not happen again.

To the mothers of Ulster we say "Mothers of Ulster, do not grieve, for your sons lie together with their former adversaries in the bosom of a proud and noble nation; they are not now solely the sons of Ulster, because they have also become the sons of France." To the sons of Ulster we say "Sons of Ulster, soldiers of Ireland, do not be anxious for we will never forget you."

Therefore it was with some anxiety that we learned that the French Government are planning to build a third airport in the Somme area about 130 km north of Paris to serve the city. The area of Chaulnes has been chosen for the airport, and there is speculation that the villages of Rosières, Vauvillers and Vermandovillers will be threatened, and with them the first world war British, French and German cemeteries in the area. However, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission tells us that this area was mainly a French area of operations in the Great War and that relatively few Commonwealth war graves could conceivably be affected. It is seeking further clarification from the authorities and will make strong representations to them should there be any proposal to disturb the graves. The French Government have, in the past, avoided the need to disturb war cemeteries when similar development has taken place. There is no reason to believe that they will act differently in this instance.

We understand from the French authorities that the perimeter of the final site is yet to be defined and that that is unlikely to be done until the end of February at the earliest. Before a final decision is made there will be consultations with all interested Governments, especially the British Government. The French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, has made a firm commitment on that. The French authorities say that they are anxious to respect and honour those who gave their lives for our common freedom. However, I have had numerous representations from worried constituents about this, and I hope that their fears will be unfounded.

One constituent raised the subject of the war grave in Belfast City Cemetery, where 350 memorial stones are currently in storage. That similar problem, though closer to home, also needs to be resolved.

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A substantial number of Members have indicated their wish to speak in this debate. Therefore I must limit Members' contributions to eight minutes each.

I support the motion and trust that every Member will join me in doing so.

The events in France from 1914 to 1918 have touched the lives of all of us, irrespective of our political allegiance or aspirations. Anyone who has travelled through or lingered in the area between Paris and the Channel coast will have experienced the special aura that descends over that part of Picardy. The vast scale of the battles that raged with such ferocity in that area over 80 years ago is contrasted by the tranquillity of the graveyards which hold the remains of the men from the armies of France, Britain and their empires, as well as their opponents in the German ranks. Such was the scale of the slaughter and the impact on the survivors that the French Government granted the land containing war graves in perpetuity to "those who rest forever in this earth."

If the proposed airport to serve Paris is sited in Picardy, close to Chaulnes, Rosières-en-Santerre and Lihons, it will create environmental and ecological change and will impact on those who live there today. However, it will also set a precedent by which the displacement of war graves will become tolerable; then acceptable; then normal practice. Those who have not spent time in Picardy may be unaware that even today, human remains, cap badges, items of equipment, shrapnel and items of ordnance are still found in the corn fields or turned over by farmers' ploughs in a grim annual harvest.

Any move to disrupt the tranquillity that pervades these last resting places must be opposed. The quest for a site for a new airport must proceed with the same sensitivity that accompanied the building of the high-speed TGV rail link between Paris and the Channel coast. If the site for a Paris airport were to lie across the mincer of Verdun, which is so central to the French psyche, I wonder what the reaction in that country might be? I trust that the French authorities will see how sensitive the graveyards of Picardy are to the British and Commonwealth psyche.

I will complete my appeal by reminding Members of the benefits that have accrued to our society through the largesse of the European Union, which is based on the desire of the French and the Germans never to repeat the carnage of two world wars. Surely it is fitting to ensure that such sacrifices are honoured in perpetuity. The French Ambassador in London, in reply to my recent letter, underlined that his Government are still open to consultation with the UK Government, among others, prior to a final decision being taken on the site for the new Paris airport.

There are eight potential sites for the airport. Given the air, road and rail traffic chaos that exists in the band between Paris and the Channel coast, surely the French Government will reconsider positioning an airport south of Paris. They once looked at the potential of an airport in the Chartres region; perhaps that idea should be revisited.

I urge the House unanimously to request that our Prime Minister and his Government consult closely with their French counterparts to prevent that precedent from being set. I remind Members that the war dead of many nations either lie in recognised graves, or appear on the rolls of honour to the missing. In many cases they still lie undiscovered in this sombre area. I read recently about Private Richard Clarke, who, 85 years after his death, was suddenly discovered and has now been laid to rest in an honourable grave.

I will share one or two recollections of my stay in the village of Authuile, which is beside the Thiepval monument that carries the names of hundreds of thousands of Allied dead who have no known graves. In the graveyard of Authuile lies the body of Willie McBride - the same Willie Mc Bride referred to in the haunting ballad "The Green Fields of France". In that cemetery, I met a young Dutch lady. She did not belong to the generation of either the first or second world wars. When I asked her why she was visiting that particular grave, she said that the words of the song had driven her to make a pilgrimage.

In those tear-jerking cemeteries in France there are posies of flowers placed by grandchildren who never knew their grandparents. The echoes of the war of 1914 and the more recent conflict from 1939 to 1945 still resonate throughout Europe and beyond. I ask that Members support the motion unanimously and to add their respect to the memory of the war dead.

I support the motion. I had the privilege of visiting the Somme area in July last year. As has been pointed out, the area still yields human remains. It could be said that the whole area is a cemetery and should therefore be treated with due respect.

I was nominated by my council to make that visit, and I went because my great-grandfather was killed in the Battle of the Somme. His name was John Stewart, and he was in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. I logged on to the web site of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Unfortunately, I did not know my great-grandfather's service number, but I knew his name and regiment. I found that 17 people called John Stewart from that regiment were killed in the conflict. That shows the scale and the horror of what happened.

Many people have hang-ups about going to the war cemeteries. They think that that war affects only one tradition. I visited the memorial at Thiepval and the memorial to the Irish Divisions at Guillemont. Like Mr Ken Robinson, I visited Authuile Military Cemetery. The area should be kept in a manner that shows respect for those who gave their lives in both world wars. When I went there I was shocked. I thought that the trenches would be hundreds of yards apart. However, at Vimy Ridge, where the Canadians fought - many of whom would have had roots in Ireland, North and South - some of the trenches were as close as I am to Dr Adamson, who is across the Chamber.

I do not want to take this point too far, but we now have an Island of Ireland Peace Park at Messines Ridge in Flanders, to which £100,000 was allocated in the December monitoring rounds. If we are truly interested in reconciliation with each other and with our past, it is time to move on and learn from the past. We must respect our shared past as well as our individual pasts. People say that those who died gave their todays for our tomorrows. We should give up our hang-ups of yesterday, so that we can all have a better tomorrow.

Finally, the Irish Government should acknowledge all the Irishmen who died. Instead of the single posy of flowers that President McAleese sent to the memorial at Guillemont on the 1 July 2001, the Irish Government should properly acknowledge the men of Ireland who died in Flanders' fields believing that they were fighting for home rule.

I support the motion brought before the House by Mr Adamson, Mr Ken Robinson, and Minister Foster.

I support the motion, and I compliment the Members who brought it before the Assembly.

The Assembly has been touched by the French Government's proposal. Members read with disgust and horror the news that they are considering building a runway over war graves at the Somme. It is incredible that anyone could disregard the graves of the brave men who fought valiantly for freedom and democracy more than 80 years ago. However, press reports have indicated that such a plan is being considered.

The manager of the Somme Heritage Centre, Mr Billy Ervine, suggested that the site of the intended runway is not necessarily in the Somme itself, but along the Somme River, outside Paris, where the graves of the British, French and German soldiers who fought the 1914 battles are situated. The site contains approximately 60 graves of British soldiers. It is understood that some of those soldiers hailed from Northern Ireland, and it is almost certain that some were from the Ulster regiments. The proposed runway would affect thousands of dead soldiers' graves.

The local press has indicated that a similar motion is to be tabled at Westminster. Some Assembly Members have dual hats - those of MLA and MP - and they tend to wear them.

My Colleagues and I have tabled a similar motion at Westminster. There has been a remarkable degree of support among MPs across the divide. It is now a case of galvanising the opposition to the proposal.

I thank the Member for his intervention. It is encouraging that the motion has support at council level, at Assembly level and at Westminster level.

Several hundred thousand graves across the world hold the remains of courageous local boys who went far away to fight a war for democracy so that we could enjoy our lives in relative peace. Some of those men died lonely and hungry, ill-clothed for the climate and a long way from home. Do we intend to honour their memory by building a runway over their graves? Some of us had relatives who were killed in the first world war. A small number of us had friends who were killed beside them at the Somme and elsewhere during the first world war. Northern Ireland is a small, close-knit country. When one of us is killed, each and every one of us is affected.

That is why we support the poppy appeal every year, which started in earnest in 1921. The poppy has come to represent all that is good and, at the same time, all that is horrifying about war. Today it is the predominant image of the Great War. I know nobody who can watch with a dry eye the release of poppy leaves during the service at the Albert Hall on the night before Remembrance Sunday. Imagine that the only thing of beauty that those brave men - and many young women who served as nurses - could see in that grey and desolate landscape of carnage and inhumanity was that simple red flower. Poppies covered the fields when man's inhumanity exploded into the world with a ferocity not seen in any period before the first world war.

The French Government now intend to build a runway on the cemetery where the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the British Legion have endeavoured to create peace, solace and respect. The French authorities obviously do not care about the honour and respect that is due to their own citizens, since some French citizens who fought for freedom and democracy are buried there.

As one who has served in the armed forces, I know at first hand a little of what was expected of those men. However, I can in no way begin to comprehend how awful it was for those young men to see the bodies and to smell the mortality of men all around them. Through the enormous loss of life during the first world war, the armed forces were able to refine their strategies and develop more sensible - if that is the correct terminology - forms of warfare, instead of throwing men in front of guns and shells.

We owe much to those men, whether they were from France, England, Ulster or from the Irish regiments. They gave their all, and we must do something to protect their final resting places. We must petition the Foreign Office Minister at Westminster to intervene on behalf of the dead soldiers to protect their graves from the encroaching runway.

Our only hope lies in the fact that, some five years ago, Eurostar had planned to run trains through the cemeteries. The company was persuaded to bypass the site and, therefore, honour all those who gave their lives. As a result of that, it is imperative that we get involved and voice our disgust and horror at the intention of the French to dig up our slumbering heroes. We must translate that disquiet into action. We urge the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Office to intervene.

The Battle of the Somme played a vital role in the history of our small country. Over 20,000 casualties came from what was then the entire island of Ireland. One poignant example is that of three brothers from Comber who joined up at the same time, were killed together at the Somme in one machine gun swathe and are buried together. That illustrates the impact of the war on families and communities - every village, town and city in Northern Ireland felt its effects.

It is believed that the British Government sent the Ulster troops to almost certain slaughter, so the British Government should make amends. That is why it is important that the matter be addressed at Westminster in an attempt to prevent those who are buried in Chaulnes from being disturbed by what is called "progress".

There are many reasons for observing Remembrance Sunday in Northern Ireland. Many of our fellow citizens have been lost to the ruthlessness of terrorism. One such tragedy took place at the cenotaph in Enniskillen. On Remembrance Sunday we remember, as a nation, not only the dead of the first world war, but those whom we knew personally, and who were killed by undemocratic, ruthless and tyrannical terrorists who thought that they could get the state that they wanted by killing.

Eighty years ago, young men went to fight against exactly the same thing. Now, the bodies of some of those who died while trying to fend off the despotic German leadership of the time are to be moved to make way for a runway. If this were proposed in respect of a graveyard in east - or, indeed, west - Belfast, opposition would have to be expressed only once before the plans would be stopped in their tracks. It is imperative that we put a stop to the proposed runway by adding our voices of rejection as an Assembly and as a country.

Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I compliment Ian Adamson on his eloquent address when moving the motion. As always, he was articulate and civilised in his remarks, and I thank him for that.

Nationalists and Republicans have always had problems with commemorating the first world war. Nationalists, and Republicans in particular, have felt that the war was hijacked - if I may use that word - by Unionism. In many ways, Nationalists felt that they were excluded from commemorating those who fought that war believing, as John Redmond did, that it would deliver home rule for Ireland. There is, and has been, an ambivalence or unease in Nationalism in respect of the remembrance of that event. There is also unease with the poppy. I do not want to discuss that, because it would be inappropriate to do so, regardless of how provocatively the issue may have been introduced.

We recall that many fought in the first world war. I do not mean to glorify war. Ian Adamson said that the first world war "stands like a searing scar across the face of history." Indeed, it is a monument to the savagery of war, in which ordinary men, on the instruction of generals who sat in the background, were sent to their deaths like lambs to the slaughter.

One must ask, as did Francis Ledwidge,

From a Nationalist point of view there are many complexities, doubts and misgivings in that issue, not because we do not remember or think respectfully of those who died at that time but because of the political manner in which it has been hijacked by Unionism. General Tom Barry fought in the first world war and returned to fight in the war of independence for Ireland. Several of the Connaught Rangers were executed in India because they mutinied against the executions of 1916. My own grandfather went to war in 1916. The letter received said that Private John Kelly, aged 37, husband of Maria Kelly, of 4 Marlin Street, Belfast, County Antrim had died on 9 September 1916. He had come from a staunchly Nationalist background.

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On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. You have always been very quick to point it out to others if they depart from the motion. The Member of Sinn Fein goes on to eulogise those who fell in 1916.

I shall bear that in mind, Mr Wilson.

My grandfather was a Redmondite. He did not need to go to war. He was employed at that time, but he went to war because he followed John Redmond and Joe Devlin in the belief that he fought for the freedom of small nations, for home rule for Ireland. However, one of the ironies - [Interruption].

Does the Member accept that it may also have been in the mind of his grandfather and of Redmond that they were fighting for home rule for the French?

That is a good point, but I talk about Ireland and would prefer not to get into that. Perhaps it is partly our own fault, but from our perspective the situation has been clouded by the way in which the matter has almost become the domain of Unionism, Protestantism or Loyalism. However, I think that Ian Adamson said that there were 75,000 volunteers from Ulster - 46,000 of them from Belfast - and 150,000 from the other part of Ireland. The difficulty is not in respecting or remembering. It is that we as a community have been made to feel excluded.

As Ian Adamson said, this is a monument to savagery. Many of those people went to that war because they had no other means of livelihood. Some went believing that they fought for the freedom of small nations. Others from the Protestant community believed that they fought for God, Ulster and the Crown.

It is a holy ground, as all graveyards should be. As such, they should not be desecrated. Significantly, they should not be desecrated by Governments. For that reason we support the motion, and we thank Ian Adamson for taking an eloquent and civilised approach.

Today's debate is an appeal. I hope that if the motion is unanimously passed, it will reduce the feelings of exclusion that some of us have about the first and second world wars and bring us together in a spirit of understanding.

We ask the French Government that, when considering their development plans for facilities such as the new airport in Paris, as formally agreed, the war graves be allowed to remain in their present locations, with due care and attention being given to them in the memory of those who are buried there. As other Members have said, we ask them to remember that the people who are buried there include German soldiers, men and women from all over Ireland and people from England, Scotland, Wales and Canada.

All too often in this modern and inconsiderate world it is easy to forget our past, to forget the tens of thousands of people - some of whom were only children - who made the supreme sacrifice in both wars. I hope that some day all of us, whether Catholic, Protestant, Nationalist or Loyalist, will acknowledge the contribution that those who died made to our future. I endorse Mr O'Connor's comments about the Republic of Ireland. As he said, those people gave their tomorrows for our todays.

For years the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, with the help of French councillors and others, has kept the war graves in pristine condition. They have ensured that the fields around the graveyards, which were once battle areas, are preserved in an acknowledgement of those who fell in battle, never to receive the last rites or a decent burial.

As another Member said, we cannot allow such a precedent to be set for the destruction of, disruption to, and disrespect for that pertaining to the fallen of the two world wars. We must continue to oppose any such destruction in the graveyards in Rosiers and the other villages that were mentioned, which are now threatened - and there is another development plan for an area near Ypres in Belgium that we must worry about.

The graveyards, battlefields and pathways should be left for the many who come throughout the year to pay their respects to friends and family. I have visited such places several times. Even though I have only two relatives buried there, I remember the strength of feelings that the visits gave me and the impressions that they made on me. I would hate to see them desecrated in any way.

People with little knowledge of the subject do not need to travel to France for an initial impression. They can go to the Somme Heritage Centre and get the information that is crucial to gaining an understanding of the problem.

The Assembly must send a clear message to the French Government that they must alter their plans so that all who are interred in the graveyards may continue to rest in peace. It is essential that they pull back and pay their tribute to the fallen who gave their lives so that all of us, including the French, could have a future.

Death is the main certainty in life. It is important that Members recognise that today's motion is on behalf of all who died, regardless of creed, background or tradition. It also reflects the attitude of those who went to their deaths.

I end with a quote from the poem 'In Flanders Field', which I hope will be remembered by the French Government and all involved in the final decisions.

I support the motion.

I support the motion, and all true democrats should endorse it. The proposed plans to build an airport on the site of the Battle of the Somme are distressing, particularly for the families of those buried there - and that includes many from Northern Ireland - who are faced with the prospect of the graves of their loved ones being moved or disturbed.

The proposed site for the new airport would involve clearing a large area and disturbing the graves of many British and Commonwealth soldiers. I welcome the assurances from the junior Defence Minister, Dr Lewis Moonie, that if the proposals seem to affect cemeteries containing British and Commonwealth graves, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission will firmly resist plans to disturb the war dead.

More than one million soldiers were killed in the battle of the Somme, which took place between 1 July 1916 and 19 November 1916. The small number of survivors of the battle firmly oppose the proposed airport. People who live close to the site also oppose the plans. Residents state that the airport would dishonour the memory of the thousands of soldiers buried in the area. A British cemetery, containing the remains of 20 soldiers killed in March 1918, also falls within the proposed airport boundary, as does a large French military cemetery, which contains six British graves.

The proposed site is the final resting place of about 100,000 British soldiers. Thousands of graves may be dug up to make way for the construction. It is vital that the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence intervene in the matter. The Somme battlefield has a special place in the hearts of the people of Northern Ireland. On 1 July 1916, the 36th (Ulster) Division lost 5,500 men at the Somme, and their supreme sacrifice must always be honoured with the dignity that it deserves.

On 1 July 1916 alone, Britain suffered over 57,000 casualties - the biggest ever loss in a single day. Between 1 July 1916 and 19 November 1916, British and Commonwealth casualties totalled 420,000, while the French suffered 200,000 casualties. The Battle of the Somme has been described by many as "hell on earth" - [Interruption]. We must never forget the gallantry and resolute courage of all those who fought in the Battle of the Somme. The words "We will remember them" from 'The Ode', the fourth stanza of the poem 'For the fallen', which is recited at remembrance services each year, have never been so poignant. I support the motion.

Several years ago, on a visit to the Somme, the late Harold McCusker happened to be in the same group as me. We visited the Wytschaete cemetery, where there is a memorial to the 16th (Irish) Division. Harold McCusker's great, great grandfather served with the 16th (Irish) Division, and his headstone is in that cemetery. The late Canon Hugh Murphy was also in the group. He was a Roman Catholic priest who had served with distinction in the Royal Navy during the last world war. He took a service -[Interruption].

Order. I am not sure where the disruption is coming from, but it is very discourteous to the House. Mr Agnew, please continue.

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