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

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has a long-standing working relationship with the Justice for the Forgotten group. It is also in regular and ongoing contact with the Pat Finucane Centre on a range of legacy-related cases. My officials are in contact with the Justice for the Forgotten group with a view to arranging a meeting to discuss the Stormont House Agreement.

The Government continues to support the Justice for the Forgotten group in its campaign on behalf of the families affected by the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. In this regard, the group received grant support of €48,000 in early 2014 from my Department’s reconciliation fund. The funding will assist Justice for the Forgotten with its work of great importance. Justice for the Forgotten operates as a project of the Pat Finucane Centre, which itself received a further grant of €50,000 in the most recent round of reconciliation fund grants in late 2014. Overall, between 2002 and 2014, the Pat Finucane Centre and the Justice for the Forgotten group have received funding of €348,500 from the reconciliation fund.

The focus of the Government is currently on the effective and expeditious implementation of the Stormont House Agreement. In this context, I participated in the first implementation and review meeting of the agreement in Belfast on 30 January 2015, at which a detailed implementation timeline was agreed. Work on implementation is progressing well and a second review meeting will take place in March. A progress report will be published in June 2015. The Government remains committed to playing its part in ensuring the full implementation of the agreement.

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