15 Feb 2012, 11:12
The Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement will be briefed on the efforts of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains to locate the remains of the victims of paramilitary violence ‘known as the Disappeared’, who were murdered and secretly buried by paramilitaries during the Troubles. The meeting takes place tomorrow Thursday at 11:45 am.
Committee Chair Joanna Tuffy TD says: “The Committee looks forward to meeting Commissioners Sir Kenneth Bloomfield and Frank Murray, members of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains.”
“The Commission’s stated overriding priority is to return the remains of the victims to their families in order that they can receive a decent burial and that the families may, in some measure at least, achieve resolution or closure in regard the deaths. Since it commenced its work in 1999, the Commission has made significant progress in the meticulous and complex work, with seven of the sixteen ‘Disappeared’ bodies recovered through its efforts to date.”
The Committee will also receive an update on EU PEACE programme funding from Niall Burgess of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Deputy Tuffy continues: “Since 1994, the successive PEACE programmes, jointly funded by the European Union and the British and Irish Governments, have provided more than €1 billion for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the six border counties. The flow of funding to projects under the current PEACE III funding will cease by the end of 2015.”
\"Committee Members look forward to an update on the prospects of continued funding of peace initiatives in Northern Ireland and the border region.\"
The meeting takes place tomorrow Thursday 16 February at 11:45 a.m. in Committee Room 2, LH 2000. Committee proceedings can be followed live at: http://bit.ly/24YmPI
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Ends
For further information please contact:
Paul Hand,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926
F: +3531 618 4551
paul.hand@oireachtas.ie
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