Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to brief the House on the outcome of the political talks in Northern Ireland which concluded on 23 December last with the Stormont House Agreement.

As Deputies will be aware, the British and Irish Governments convened the talks last October. It was the joint assessment of the two governments at that time that the political impasse in the North was such that the immediate involvement of the governments was required to break the logjam. Our objective in the cross-party talks was to conclude a broad agreement that provided for economic renewal and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Together with the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock, I represented the Government at the weekly sessions of the talks over a period of 11 weeks. I co-chaired all-party round table talks with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, as well as having hundreds of hours of meetings and engagement with the parties in other formats as necessary. I believe that the agreement we reached on 23 December, following lengthy and at times challenging negotiations, represents a great opportunity to restore effective partnership government in Northern Ireland, advance genuine reconciliation between divided communities and progress economic prosperity for all.

The agreement covers a broad range of political, economic and social issues. In particular, the agreement sets out a plan for financial and budgetary reform; proposes a way forward on flags, identity, culture and tradition through the establishment of a commission; envisages the devolution of responsibility for parades to the Northern Ireland Assembly, with proposals on parading to be brought to the Executive by June 2015; establishes a programme of institutional reform at Stormont; progresses a number of outstanding aspects from the Good Friday and St. Andrews Agreements, including the establishment of a civic advisory panel by June 2015, a commitment to reporting on new sectoral priorities for North-South co-operation by the end of February 2015 and further development of the North-West gateway initiative; and most significantly, the agreement establishes a new comprehensive framework for dealing with the legacy issues of the past.

I wish to provide some detail about the terms of the agreement on dealing with the past. When I first visited Belfast, immediately following my appointment last July, it was clear to me that in addition to the need to address the political impasse, it was also vital to find a mechanism for dealing with the continuing corrosive effect of the past on the politics of the present. Several previous attempts had tried valiantly to address this issue, including the Eames-Bradley proposals of 2008 and the Haass talks process of 2013.

Building on this valuable work, the Stormont House Agreement sets out a framework which I believe will enable us to tackle the long-standing issues around the legacy of the past in a comprehensive way. In particular, the framework provides for an oral history archive which will provide a central place for people from throughout the UK and Ireland to share experiences and narratives related to the Troubles; a dedicated independent historical investigations unit which will have full policing powers to take forward investigations into Troubles-related deaths; and an independent commission on information retrieval to enable victims and survivors, North and South, to seek and receive information about the death of their loved ones. This comprehensive framework reflects the overwhelming consensus among all parties to the talks on the need to place victims and survivors at the heart of our efforts to deal with the legacy of the past.

As regards the financial aspects of the Stormont House Agreement, the estimated total value of the overall financial package agreed between the British Government and the parties to underpin the agreement represents additional spending power of almost £2 billion for the Northern Ireland Executive. As part of the agreement, the Irish Government also reaffirmed its commitment to part-funding the development of the A5 road to improve access to the north west. In addition, we have allocated €5 million to the International Fund for Ireland to support its work on reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Border counties of the South.

I had the opportunity of witnessing the ongoing importance of the fund’s work in promoting reconciliation only last week when I visited Belfast and attended the Blackmountain Shared Space Project’s Peace Walls Programme there.

As is the case with all participants in the talks, there were a number of additional issues which the Government would have wished to see progress further but there did not appear to be sufficient consensus to do so. Notwithstanding that it was included in a paper tabled by the Government at the outset of the talks, we were disappointed that a commitment to an Irish language Act, either enacted in Westminster or the Northern Ireland Assembly, did not form part of the final agreement. I welcome, however, the explicit endorsement in the agreement by the British Government of the principle of respect for, and recognition of, the Irish language in Northern Ireland. Similarly, while the Government would have wished to see the establishment of a North South consultative forum and a Bill of rights for Northern Ireland, the necessary enabling consensus was not forthcoming during the Stormont talks. However, the Government will continue to avail of other opportunities to secure progress on these outstanding issues and there will be such opportunities.

Overall, the agreement represents the articulation of the next essential steps towards reconciliation and economic renewal. The two Governments sought to maximise what was achievable having regard to the core, and sometimes conflicting, negotiating positions of the parties and the finite time available to conclude the negotiations. By tabling papers and drafts of heads of agreement proposals, the governments helped to broker agreement on issues that had not been amenable to resolution during the Haass talks in 2013. I pay tribute to Richard Haass with whom I spoke on Christmas Eve.

I assure the House of the Government’s commitment to the effective and expeditious implementation of the Stormont House Agreement, which is likely to be as challenging as its negotiation. In this context, under the terms of the agreement, both governments will convene quarterly review meetings, with the first meeting due to take place before the end of this month at which an implementation timetable will be agreed. As a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, the Government is conscious of its responsibilities to all of the people of this island. In the months ahead, we will continue to advance political progress and to play our part in the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement.

I wish to express my appreciation to all those who contributed to bringing the Stormont talks to a successful conclusion. In particular, I pay tribute to Secretary of State Northern Ireland, Ms Theresa Villiers, with whom I worked closely throughout the talks process. I acknowledge the presence in the House this evening of the British ambassador, Mr. Dominick Chilcott. The ongoing support and direct engagement of the Taoiseach and Prime Minister Cameron in the talks also played a crucial part in converting dialogue into agreement. I also acknowledge the constructive roles played by all the Northern Ireland Executive parties in reaching agreement and, in particular, the leadership shown by the First Minister, Peter Robinson, and Deputy First Minister McGuinness in bridging a number of negotiating chasms. I pay tribute to the officials from my Department and the Department of the Taoiseach. I would also like to pay special thanks to US Senator Gary Hart, for the most valuable role he played and for the ongoing support and commitment of the US Administration, including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State, John Kerry, and other senior figures.

Last week I was in Belfast and I will be there again next week to represent the Government at the first implementation and review meeting of the Stormont House Agreement. I sincerely believe that the agreement provides the means for us to address the challenges facing Northern Ireland which I identified on my first visit to the North as Minister last July. I and my colleagues, in particular, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Sherlock, will continue to apply the same level of determination and commitment in the implementation phase to ensure our investment in negotiating the agreement bears fruit and delivers on the promise of brighter days ahead for all of the people of Northern Ireland and, consequently, all the people on the island.

See this speech in context