You have one minute, Mr Brooks.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

I rise to mark 30 years of the Washington Ireland Program. What began three decades ago as an initiative to cultivate leaders for a brighter future in Northern Ireland has blossomed into a remarkable journey that has impacted on many lives and helped to foster many strong relationships across communities, across the border and across the Atlantic. For 30 years, the programme has provided young people with more than just an opportunity to learn. It has empowered young people to grow into leaders in a variety of fields with courage, vision and a great sense of what it is to serve.

What makes the programme so unique is its proven ability to bridge the divides between a spectrum of diverse upbringings and perspectives by recognising but not seeking to change diverging political aspirations for this place; rather, it builds relationships and understanding across those perspectives. It has given me and many others a far more diverse network of friends and contacts across these islands and beyond than I would otherwise have had at that stage in my life. It honed an ability to speak up for my community and articulate my beliefs whilst listening to those with a genuinely different story and perspective.

My time is short, and I had more to say, but I want to record my thanks and those of all the alumni to the host families, those who hosted internships for the programme and, most of all, the programme's founder, Carol Wheeler. Her impact on many hundreds, if not thousands, of lives through the programme is remarkable. We give thanks for that today.

I ask Members to take their ease while we move to the next item of business.

(Mr Deputy Speaker [Mr Blair] in the Chair)