Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 January 2015
738. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the outcome of the Stormont talks involving the Irish and British Governments and the five Northern Ireland Executive parties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1772/15]
View answerFollowing eleven weeks of discussion, political talks in Stormont House, Belfast concluded successfully on 23 December. The Stormont House Agreement covers a broad range of political, social and economic issues and has the potential to advance significantly its twin aims of reconciliation and economic renewal. It sets out a plan for financial and budgetary reform. It proposes a way forward on flags, identity, culture and tradition through the establishment of a commission. It envisages the devolution of responsibility for parades to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It establishes a programme of institutional reform at Stormont and progresses a number of outstanding aspects from the Good Friday and St Andrews Agreements. Very significantly, it establishes a new comprehensive framework for dealing with the legacy of the Past. This framework includes an oral history archive; a dedicated independent Historical Investigations Unit which will investigate Troubles-related deaths; and an Independent Commission on Information Retrieval to enable victims and survivors, North and South, to seek and receive information about the death of their loved ones.
As is the case with all participants in the talks, there were a number of additional issues which the Government would have wished to see progressed further but there was not sufficient consensus among the parties at this time.
Notwithstanding that it was included in a paper tabled by the Government at the outset of the talks, we were disappointed that a commitment to an Irish Language Act, either enacted in Westminster or the Northern Ireland Assembly, did not form part of the final Agreement. We welcome, however, the explicit endorsement in the Agreement by the British Government of the principle of respect for and recognition of the Irish language in Northern Ireland.
Similarly, while the Government would have wished to see the establishment of a North South Consultative Forum and a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, the necessary enabling consensus was not forthcoming during the Stormont talks. The Government will nevertheless avail of other opportunities to secure progress on these outstanding issues.
The months of the negotiations involved a huge commitment from both Governments and from all of the parties concerned. As a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, the Government is conscious of our responsibilities to all of the people of this island. In the months ahead, we will continue to advance political progress and to play our part in the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement. To this end, I will be attending the first quarterly meeting to review progress on implementation of the Agreement later this month.
