Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I begin by joining with the Taoiseach and all of my colleagues in conveying our condolences to the Ballymurphy families for the terrible events that took their loved ones from them and in extending our sympathy and solidarity for the nearly 50 years that they have had to spend fighting to bring truth to those events. That is a lifetime of struggle.

I was honoured to meet the families on several occasions in recent years as the Government worked with them to support their long campaign. To hear the coroner’s verdict announced last week and indeed for the Taoiseach to read the details of those findings into the record of this House today is powerful. It was a moment of complete vindication, of truth at last. It is also testament to the courage and determination of the Ballymurphy families and their unyielding sense of justice. As the Taoiseach noted, the Government stands with the families. Appropriate due process should follow from the coroner’s findings and we will continue to support them as they consider their next steps. The deaths at Ballymurphy were part of the tragic legacy of the Troubles which saw the loss of over 3,500 lives from all communities. The Government is committed to helping all those who lost loved ones during the Troubles and who seek truth and justice to find it. That, of course, goes for Ballymurphy families and for Kingsmill families. That is why we passed the Criminal Justice (International Co-Operation) Act to facilitate that inquest and others like it. It goes for the Dublin and Monaghan families who yesterday marked the 47th anniversary of that terrible day of loss. That goes for the Birmingham families who I was privileged to meet a little over a year ago. That goes for all families. Every family bereaved in the conflict must have access to an effective investigation and to a process of truth and justice, regardless of the perpetrator.

The Stormont House Agreement was reached between the two Governments and the political parties in Northern Ireland in 2014 after a long and intense period of negotiation, with the exception of the UUP which did not support it at the time. It set out a path forward and a balanced framework which encompassed the core principles of truth, justice and reconciliation. The agreement includes an historical investigation unit to take forward independent investigations into outstanding Troubles-related deaths and an international independent commission for information recovery to enable victims’ families to seek and receive information about the circumstances of the deaths of their loved ones where that information cannot be used in courts. It includes an oral history archive to allow all of the different experiences of the Troubles to be shared and an implementation and reconciliation group to look at the themes and patterns of the conflict and support initiatives that can contribute to reconciliation and a fuller understanding of the past.

The two Governments followed up the Stormont House Agreement with a bilateral international agreement to allow the establishment of its information recovery body. At the time of the New Decade, New Approach Agreement in January of last year, the British Government once again committed to legislating for the Stormont House Agreement.

In March of last year, the British Government issued a written ministerial statement that proposed to depart significantly from the Stormont House Agreement. Since then I have spoken regularly to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to express our strong concerns and to reiterate the importance of the collective approach consistent with the Stormont House Agreement and one which, crucially, is compliant with our international human rights obligations. I reaffirmed those critical principles to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when we met the week before last in Dublin and strongly advised him against any unilateral action on these very sensitive issues. Reports of possible plans to introduce a statute of limitation have, of course, caused significant upset, shock and concern, including for the Ballymurphy families who have spoken out on this issue.

In my time as Minister for Foreign Affairs I have met many victims and survivors from both communities. I know how hurt they are by the idea of being denied a route to pursue justice on behalf of their loved ones as provided by the Stormont House Agreement. There is a need to take a comprehensive view of how to achieve progress and reconciliation for society as a whole but the needs of victims and families must be at the heart of that process. We have strongly communicated our position on this issue to the British Government.

We will continue to do so and we will continue to call in the clearest terms for there to be no unilateral action. The Government remains ready to engage and work with the British Government and, of course, the parties to the Northern Ireland Executive with a view to reaffirming a collective approach that is consistent with the Stormont House Agreement. Of course, we want to continue to work with victims and their families at the centre of that process as well.

The history of the peace process has taught us that real and lasting progress is made when we work together, even on the most difficult and sensitive of issues. We know the Stormont House Agreement is not perfect. I am not sure there can be a perfect solution to such a complicated and sensitive problem as how to address the legacy of our past in a way that meets the needs of all families and our communities as best we can. However, it gives us a solid framework and an agreed path forward and we need to take it together.

The process of building a lasting peace and deeper reconciliation across all communities is difficult, painful and slow, but it is made easier when we have a foundation on which we can have confidence based on principles to which we can always turn, such as a clear map when the path forward seems too difficult or unclear, as well as truth, justice, rule of law and empathy with one another's pain. Those values bring us together and, as the Taoiseach stated, that unity was so clear last week as leaders and citizens from all communities and all political parties came out to welcome the findings of the Ballymurphy inquest. The findings of Mrs. Justice Keegan last week laid out a set of truths. All ten people who were killed were wholly innocent. All ten were killed without justification. I hope that with the telling of those truths and the bringing to light of the immense wrong that was done, a burden begins to lift. We will keep working in support of all those seeking truth and justice so that more burdens carried on the shoulders of other families and communities for far too long can be lifted also.

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