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

I acknowledge Deputy Smith's long-standing interest in this matter. I assure him and the House that the Government fully supports the all-party Dáil motions of July 2008 and May 2011 urging the British Government to allow access by an independent international judicial figure to all original documents in its possession relating to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. I have raised this issue with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Ms Theresa Villiers MP, including when I met her in Belfast in January of this year and in Dublin in February. I am aware and I welcome that Deputy Smith and his party leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, raised this matter with Secretary of State Villiers when they had the opportunity to meet her in February also. The Secretary of State has indicated to me on a number of occasions that the British Government would consider afresh how it can respond to these Dáil motions.

I welcome the continued all-party support for the campaign on behalf of the Dublin and Monaghan families. The Justice for the Forgotten campaign, which supports victims and their families and operates as a project of the Pat Finucane Centre, received grant support of almost €50,000 in 2014 from the reconciliation fund operated by my Department. The funding will assist Justice for the Forgotten with its important work. I am aware that my officials will be meeting with representatives of Justice for the Forgotten in Belfast tomorrow in regard to the provisions for dealing with the past in the Stormont House Agreement. Indeed, I would hope to have the opportunity to meet with Justice for the Forgotten over the coming weeks, and I am conscious in that regard that the anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings falls on 17 May next. I accept that anniversaries can be a particularly difficult time for the families of victims and for survivors, and the Dublin and Monaghan families are in my thoughts as we discuss this most sensitive of issues in the House today. I wish to assure Deputy Smith of my ongoing interest.

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