Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I will write to Deputy Gilmore regarding the Justice for the Forgotten issue because I do not have the information.

We are working hard to establish the North-South parliamentary body. It was envisaged the full complement of the institutional architecture of the Agreement should be implemented in the spirit and word of the Agreement. We have been quite patient and we have made every effort to overcome past reluctance by others to join such parliamentary bodies in the past. We had a problem with the body set up under the Anglo-Irish Agreement for many years. There is no principled objection. It is a question of bedding down the assembly during the course of this year and I hope people will approach these issues positively as quickly as possible and enable the parliamentary arm of the architecture to be used to its full potential.

Many of the breakthroughs we have witnessed were the result of parliamentary and local representatives contacts down the years where practical co-operative arrangements were arrived at and people were able to get on with joint approaches on a range of issues, which built confidence over time for much greater commitment and engagement on larger issues that have thankfully been resolved, we hope, to everyone's satisfaction. I attach importance to these issues, which are not pro forma ideas. They are important in sustaining contact and improving understanding over time and, thereby, helping people to build relationships that are of value not only in political terms, but also in human terms.

It is important the final element of the St. Andrews Agreement, that is, the devolution of policing and justice functions, which is outstanding, should proceed. We will continue our efforts in that regard. Progress needs to be made on a timeframe and operational framework and I hope that can be achieved as soon and as quickly as possible in line with the spirit of the St. Andrews Agreement.

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