Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious of the pressure at Government level here and in London, but are there talks taking place at official level between the Irish and British Administrations and the political parties in Northern Ireland on the need to progress talks to have the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive restored? The last time the Minister was here he did not indicate any optimism about when the necessary progress would be achieved.

For relatively little money, the reconciliation fund has been very successful. Officials in the Department have done and still do a great job in working with communities throughout Northern Ireland and the Border counties. While the programme is beneficial, if we do not deal with the legacy issues, there will still be much hurt and anxiety. It is decades since many of the atrocities were committed. Families who have not heard the truth and seen justice are getting older and fear their lives will end before they get the truth about how they lost a loved one. I know this from dealing with the families of victims in the Monaghan and Dublin bombings, people in Belturbet and others in the Border area. They are becoming increasingly anxious and understandably angry that we are making no progress in dealing with the legacy issues. We cannot emphasise enough the need to get the message across that it is a priority for all of us in public life. At times these families can understandably think the issues have gone off the agenda. It is very important, therefore, that we send the message from the Oireachtas and the Government that we continue to pursue them with the British Government and the Northern Ireland authorities. Far too often people say to me they know who committed a crime and who murdered someone, but, unfortunately, that person has never been brought to justice. I know that the framework is in place in the Stormont House Agreement and the Fresh Start agreement to make progress in that respect. The Minister mentioned the legislation being progressed here, but it is an issue of concern, regardless of political pressures on many fronts. Naturally, we will not achieve progress until the Assembly and Executive are restored. Similarly, the North-South Ministerial Council is important. It is often written out of the political agenda, but it would have been extremely important and beneficial if it had been functioning in the past two years, whether at plenary or sectoral level. Are there plans for talks to resume between the Minister, the Secretary of State, Ms Bradley, and the political parties represented at Stormont?