Praising the agreement as being as fine a document as was produced in the State's 75-year history, Mr Maurice Manning, the Fine Gael leader in the House, said it was composed of extraordinary substance and imagination and was pregnant with possibilities.
His party would be campaigning for its endorsement with the highest Yes vote in the State's history. He hoped the other parties would do likewise. Anything else would be a betrayal of the Taoiseach and many of his predecessors and of John Hume and Seamus Mallon, who had for so long provided the ideals which were at the core of the agreement.
The alternative to a positive outcome had been demonstrated by the latest brutal murder of a Catholic council worker in Co Armagh earlier this week, which had been designed to inflame sectarian divisions and produce a No vote. Those trying to ensure rejection of the agreement should not be allowed to succeed. The road signposted by the agreement showed the way to peace and the development of political maturity in both parts of the island.
Welcoming the proposed removal of the current Articles 2 and 3, he said their existence had done nothing over the last half century to advance the cause of unity or understanding on this island. He rejoiced in the eloquence and wisdom of the new articles put forward for consideration. In their concept of an aspiration to unity by consent and of respect for the diversity of all identities, they represented a novel and noble statement.
Saluting the leadership of the Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, Mr Manning said he thought their party had demonstrated a genuine desire to move into mainstream democratic politics.
The agreement had highlighted the problem of dealing with the gunmen, who refused to accept democratic politics and the rule of law. When it was adopted, all democrats must be clear that the only law was the supremacy of the State and the safety of its people. That was why adoption of the referendums was so crucial.
Mr Manning was applauded by senators on all sides and also by the Taoiseach
Mr Brendan Ryan (Ind) said the big difference now was that the choice between union and unity was that the decision was for the people of this island in a format they all agreed. There was no longer any room for any ambiguity or any ambivalence. There was no great big ogre in Westminster interfering in our affairs. Because of that, what was being asked of us in terms of Articles 2 and 3 was not only acceptable but was necessary and desirable.
Mr Ryan said his message to Sinn Fein was that it was time for them to take risks. As one who had been close to them and their problems in the 1980s he believed it was time for an unfudged, unequivocal acceptance of this agreement, no matter what reservations that party might have about it. He wanted Sinn Fein to say Yes on both sides of the Border and to work on from there. The world was now a changed place and people could not fudge any more.