Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As I said in my original reply, I have been guided by a victim-centred approach from the very beginning of this. I have met with many victims' groups regarding this legislation. We have also raised the issue effectively in multilateral forums such as the United Nations and the Council of Europe, both politically and at an official level, since the publication of the Bill in May 2022. Most recently, we did this on 13 September at the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council and very recently on 21 September at the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers. The committee expressed for the sixth time its serious concerns about the United Kingdom legacy Bill and its compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. Throughout the UN General Assembly engagements last week in New York, I raised the issue of this Bill in all my discussions with our US partners and also with the officials in the state department and with members of Congress and the Senate, particularly during their recent visit to Ireland in August. We have worked hard to raise this issue at an international level and it has provoked a degree of concern all round. People genuinely have concerns about this Bill's compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights.

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