Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 April 2015
546. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if there has been a meeting in his Department since December 2014 regarding the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11632/15]
View answerThe effective and expeditious implementation of the Stormont House Agreement is a major focus of the Government with a view to advancing its twin aims of economic prosperity and reconciliation for Northern Ireland. The work of implementing the Agreement continues at political and official level.
In accordance with the review and monitoring provisions of the Stormont House Agreement, quarterly review meetings are held involving the Northern Ireland Executive party leaders and the British and Irish Governments.
The second such meeting took place in Belfast on 27 March at which I represented the Government. The meeting reviewed progress made to date on the detailed implementation timeline for the Stormont House Agreement, which was agreed by the NI Executive party leaders and the two Governments at the first review meeting of 30 January.
On 11 February, I met with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers during her visit to Dublin. We discussed a broad range of issues including the next steps in the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement.
On 25 February, I represented the Government, together with Minister of State Seán Sherlock, at the North South Ministerial Council meeting in institutional format. Both First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness represented the Northern Ireland Executive. We considered a report on possible new sectoral priorities for North/South cooperation, as provided for under the Stormont House Agreement.
The next Stormont House Agreement review meeting is scheduled to take place in June. A six-monthly update on progress on implementation of the Agreement is due to be published at that time, in accordance with the review and monitoring provisions of the Agreement.
The Stormont House Agreement provides for the establishment of a number of new mechanisms to address the legacy of the past including an independent Historical Investigations Unit, an Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, an Oral History Archive and an Implementation and Reconciliation Group to oversee themes, archives and information recovery across the framework for dealing with the legacy of the past.
Primary legislation to establish the Historical Investigations Unit will be taken forward at Westminster and I understand that the intention is to bring forward legislation as soon as possible to enable the Unit to be established in 2016.
The Government has committed to putting all necessary arrangements in place, including legislation where necessary, to support the new framework on the past. Any such legislation in this jurisdiction will be a matter for consideration by the Minister for Justice and Equality in the first instance.
