2 Feb 2012, 17:23
The Joint Committee on the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement today welcomed Owen Paterson MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
The Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement today welcomed Owen Paterson MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Newly elected Chair Joanna Tuffy TD said: “Committee Members thank Secretary of State Paterson for a wide-ranging and informative session, the first such address by a Secretary of State to an Oireachtas Committee.
“The Committee heard that, according to Secretary of State Paterson, an improving economy can solve many of Northern Ireland’s problems at grass roots level and that the private sector has a key role to play in that regard.”
“Issues around commemorations are a key focus for our Committee and Members agree with Secretary of State Paterson that the series of centenary commemorations in the coming years, handled sensitively, could serve as a useful vehicle towards education and mutual understanding within both communities.
“Committee Members commended Prime Minister Cameron’s fulsome apology for the British Army’s role in Bloody Sunday as providing some closure for victims’ families forty years on.
“However, a number of Committee Members made a direct appeal to the Secretary of State to engage with relatives of those killed in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Reflecting a motion in the Seanad earlier today, they pressed Secretary of State Paterson on his government releasing documents which could answer urgent questions concerning allegations of collusion between NI security forces and loyalists in the bombings that day.
“While difficult issues were raised at this meeting, we appreciate the Secretary of State Paterson’s candid answers and look forward to continued engagement with him as the gains from a stable and peaceful Northern Ireland are cemented.”
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Ends
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Members of the Committee:
Deputies Seán Conlan, Seán Crowe, Clare Daly, Regina Doherty, Alan Farrell, Frank Feighan, Martin Ferris, Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Dominic Hannigan, Michael P. Kitt, Joe McHugh, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Joe O’Reilly, Brendan Smith and Joanna Tuffy.
Senators Jim D’Arcy, Maurice Cummins, Martin McAleese, Mary Moran, Mary White.
Chair: Joanna Tuffy, TD Vice-Chair: Joe O'Reilly, TD