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

The focus of the Government is currently on the effective and expeditious implementation of the Stormont House Agreement. In this context, I represented the Government, together with the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock, at the first implementation and review meeting of the agreement in Belfast on 30 January last, at which a detailed implementation timeline was agreed. Both the British and Irish Governments, as well as the five Northern Ireland Executive party leaders, took part in this meeting. The timetable we agreed is ambitious, as the vision of the Stormont House Agreement demands, and will require sustained engagement and co-operation on all of our parts. I was pleased with the level of progress made during the first meeting. Good discussions were had across the areas we considered and I was particularly pleased about the positive momentum shown on the North-South area of work. The five parties demonstrated a clear willingness to get down to the work needed to make the agreement a reality, and this was reflected in the concrete detail contained in the implementation timeline.

Yesterday in Belfast, I represented the Government, together with the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock, at the North-South Ministerial Council meeting in institutional format. The First Minister, Peter Robinson, and Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, represented the Northern Ireland Executive. Our agenda included a report on possible new sectoral priorities for North-South co-operation, as provided for under the Agreement.

Overall, work on implementation of the Stormont House Agreement is progressing well and a second review meeting will take place in March. It will require, as Deputy Smith has said, an element of legislation in Westminster, in Stormont and here.

Our Government will be proposing legislation for consideration by the Oireachtas to facilitate the setting up of the independent commission on information retrieval, ICIR, a body which will enable victims and survivors to seek and privately receive information about the deaths of their loved ones, as per the terms of the agreement.

See this speech in context