Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I propose to take questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together.

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, phoned me to pass on his congratulations following the general election in February. In the course of that conversation he invited me to meet with him at Downing Street in the near future. I have already met with the Prime Minister en marge of the extraordinary meeting of the European Council which I attended in Brussels on 11 March. I also expect to meet with him at the spring European Council meeting which will take place later this week.

I met with the Northern Ireland First Minister, Peter Robinson, and Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, during my recent visit to Washington to attend the traditional St. Patrick's Day celebrations. At our meeting we discussed the general political situation in the North; the opportunities for North-South co-operation and the dissident threat.

As set out in the programme for Government, this Government supports the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews Agreement. We are also committed to publishing and acting on the recommendations of the first review of the North-South implementation bodies and areas for co-operation, and we will progress the second part of the review to identify new areas for North-South co-operation.

Promoting greater economic co-operation on this island to accelerate the process of recovery and creation of jobs is also a clear part of our agenda. We will progress these issues through the work of the North South Ministerial Council. I will be chairing the next NSMC plenary meeting which will take place in the South in June.

The dissident threat unfortunately remains with us and we will continue to foster the co-operation between the Garda Síochána and the PSNI to deal with this.

I am also conscious that we are facing into a period of commemorative events which must be handled sensitively and inclusively. This is a matter to which the Government will give careful attention.

I understand that previously the Minister for Justice and Law Reform and the Minister for Foreign Affairs have met with the families of the victims of the Ballymurphy massacre and that officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs have ongoing contact with them.

I am open to meeting the families.

With regard to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, Deputies will be aware that the Clerk of the Dáil received a reply from the Clerk of the House of Commons on foot of the Oireachtas resolution of 10 July 2008. Any future follow up to this should be considered in consultation with the parties and can be raised with the Whips. During my brief visit to Washington I met Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the appropriations committee which deals with the International Fund for Ireland, IFI. As the House will be aware this was included, on foot of a presidential recommendation, for consideration with the budget but has been removed as a result of the change in circumstances on Capitol Hill. There is a three-week gap in respect of this matter and, as a result of its importance, we made a strong case to the Senator for it to be reintroduced. The funding is particularly important to communities on both sides of the divide in areas of Northern Ireland that are vulnerable. A withdrawal of funds from such areas would send out the wrong signal and change the impetus in the context of seeking further funding for these areas from European sources.

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