Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 9 February 2022
Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 1 - President's Establishment (Revised)
Vote 2 - Taoiseach (Revised)
Vote 3 - Attorney General (Revised)
Vote 5 - Director of Public Prosecutions (Revised)
Vote 6 - Chief State Solicitor's Office (Revised)
Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source
I want to make the point that we believe that this is the correct route right now. We believe that it would be very damaging indeed if the British Government were to pursue this. There is, as the Deputy knows, a mechanism in the agreement and in the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, BIIGC. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, has engaged in that process and on that specific issue with his counterparts, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State and the political parties in Northern Ireland.
There was a meeting on 24 June. Following that meeting, the Government joined with the British Government and with the Northern Ireland parties in a process of intensive engagement on these issues. Discussions began in July. We have said that the victims must come first. I think that the Deputy would agree with that.
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