Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an múinteoir - gabh mo leithscéal - leis an gCathaoirleach. Gabhaim buíochas le Michael Culbert, Thomas Quigley agus John O'Hagan as an gcur i láthair. Tá brón orainn faoin droch-chumarsáid a bhí ansin. I thank Mr. Culbert, Mr. Quigley and Mr. O'Hagan for the contributions. I was at the previous committee at which Mr. Culbert presented. Many of the issues to which he referred are the same as those he outlined previously. He is right to say that there has not been a huge amount of progress. I speak as someone who deals quite regularly with the ex-prisoner constituency and the families involved. I am keen to focus on the issue of transgenerational discrimination, particularly as it has featured at these meetings and other engagements we have had with representatives from both the republican and loyalist ex-prisoner constituencies.

Given that this is the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, it is our role and obligation to look at what aspects of the Good Friday Agreement have not been and need to be implemented. Certainly, the discrimination and issues faced by the ex-prisoner population and the families, children, grandchildren and now, in some instances, great-grandchildren involved remain as live as ever, 23 years after the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements which made reference to equality issues relating to ex-prisoners.

The highest concentration of the ex-prisoner population is in the Six Counties, but there are a number of ex-prisoners in the South as well. What level of engagement do they have, through organisations like Coiste na nIarchimí, with the Government and the relevant Departments? Mr. Culbert mentioned in his presentation, and he can correct me if I am wrong, that the Stormont working group was established under Fresh Start, which deals with a range of issues under the title of equality of citizenship for ex-prisoners.

My question is two-pronged. Has the Stormont working group had any engagements with the Government on ex-prisoner issues? Is there merit in the committee and Coiste na nIarchimí engaging with the Government to see if a similar forum can be replicated and established in the Twenty-six Counties that would look at the issues faced by ex-prisoners and their families in this jurisdiction, and what the Government can do as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement to assist? Sin mo mhéid for now. I hope that was clear and I hope the witnesses were able to hear me.