Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 April 2023
147. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the extent to which he continues to have discussions with the representatives of all groups in Northern Ireland in the aftermath of the visit of President Biden, with particular reference to the need to engage with likeminded interests in the pursuit of the objectives of the Good Friday Agreement. [18058/23]
View answerThe visit of President Biden in the month we mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement was indicative of wider American support for peace on this island. Throughout his visit President Biden spoke of the importance that the United States attaches to the Agreement. Together with our partners in the European Union, the United States, in Britain, and in Northern Ireland, the Government will continue to work for the full and effective operation of all of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement across all three strands.
The people of Northern Ireland are entitled to a functioning Assembly and Executive. In recent weeks we have seen cuts to services that will affect Northern Ireland's most vulnerable. It is vital that the people of Northern Ireland are represented by the politicians that they elected in May 2022.
The absence of a functioning Executive also has knock-on affects on the operation of Strand Two of the Agreement, which has been severely disrupted in recent years. It is vital that the North South Ministerial Council is allowed to continue its work as soon as possible.
I remain in regular contact with political representatives in Northern Ireland, reiterating the urgent need for a functioning Assembly and Executive.
I am also in regular contact with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with restoration of the institutions a core focus of our discussions. I met the Secretary of State and the British Prime Minister most recently last week, at the conference hosted by Queen's University Belfast to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. In my remarks at the conference I emphasised the importance that the Government attaches to the restoration of the devolved institutions.
This followed a substantive bilateral engagement with the Secretary of State on 6 April 2023, when we discussed the restoration of the devolved power sharing institutions, and the Irish Government's continuing opposition to the British government's Legacy Bill.
The Secretary of State and I also met at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference in Dublin earlier this year, which is a Strand Three institution.
The Government will continue to work across all strands of the Good Friday Agreement in support of the devolved power-sharing institutions in Northern Ireland.
My Department also continues to support through the Reconciliation Fund and shortly through the new Shared Island Civic Society Fund a wide variety of community and civil society organisations working to advance the shared, reconciled society promised by the Good Friday Agreement.
