Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his remarks. The Deputy himself dealt with the matter in a responsible and correct way, following on from the Smithwick report.

I assumed the Deputy was alluding in his question to the comments made recently by the Northern Ireland Attorney General, Mr. John Larkin, QC, in which he spoke about drawing a line, set at the time of the Good Friday agreement in April 1998, with respect to conflict-related prosecutions, inquests and other inquiries. I have had no such discussions with the Minister of Justice, David Ford, MLA, who is my counterpart in the Northern Ireland Executive. I do not think it would be helpful for me to comment on Mr. Larkin’s proposal which was made in the context of ongoing considerations on how to address issues of the past. The Deputy will be aware that Dr. Richard Haass has been asked to consider these issues with the Panel of Parties and to make proposals to the Northern Ireland Executive later this month. The opportunity offered by the Haass process should be grasped by everyone involved. The Government is fully committed to supporting that process in any way it can and to finding a way forward on all the issues within the remit of the Panel of Parties talks.

In seeking to address the legacy of conflict and the many violent incidents related to the Troubles, the victims and survivors must be paramount in our considerations. We must be conscious primarily of taking into account and addressing their needs. The Good Friday Agreement explicitly refers to the need to acknowledge and to take actions to address the individual suffering of the victims of conflict violence and their families. This is a necessary and important element of reconciliation. All efforts to address the legacy of the conflict should be motivated above all by a commitment to making progress towards reconciliation and a cohesive society.

For the sake of completeness, there is another good reason I have not discussed the issue with my Northern Ireland counterpart, namely, as Minister for Justice and Equality I have no function in taking decisions on criminal prosecutions. In accordance with the provisions of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1974, the Director of Public Prosecutions in this jurisdiction is charged with the prosecution of criminal offences and she is fully independent in carrying out this function. A similar arrangement applies in Northern Ireland in respect of this separation of powers.

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