Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join with Deputy Carthy in praising and commending Justice for the Forgotten and thanking it for its work. I assure him that, on behalf of the Irish Government and this House and in recognition of the mandate of the four all-party motions, I will continue to raise my voice at every opportunity in every engagement with the British Government, including the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in respect of the absence of a substantive response to requests for access to material. That remains a matter of deep concern.

More broadly and to Deputy Moynihan's point, we are committed to working with the British Government to fulfil our shared responsibilities as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement and to see if it is possible to develop a shared approach on legacy, which I really hope it is. There is now intensive and constructive work taking place at official and political level. I had a positive and substantive discussion on legacy with the Secretary of State last month at the Ireland-UK summit in Liverpool following our detailed discussions in Dublin in February. The programme for Government explicitly states our commitment to working with the British Government as well as with victims groups and political parties in Northern Ireland to develop a fit-for-purpose mechanism to achieve truth and justice.

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