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

Thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. I welcome the opportunity to attend the Seanad. The significance of the Seanad's interest in this matter is not in doubt, particularly having regard to the fact that this is probably the first substantive debate in the Seanad this session. I concur with Senator Ó Murchú when he says that perhaps this is an issue that might be the subject of more frequent debate. I assure the Senator and the House that any time the Seanad wishes to debate this issue, as long as I am Minister for Foreign Affairs, I will be anxious to oblige and be present. I remarked to myself at the Ploughing Championships yesterday that two years ago the political narrative was about the future of the Seanad and whether it would remain in place. I have been pleased to seek to accommodate the House on all occasions that I have been invited to address it during the past 14 months.

I welcome this debate and I thank the proposer, Senator Cummins, and the House for the opportunity to outline the position of the Government on the current political situation in Northern Ireland. I speak to the House following the resumption, on Monday, 21 September, of round-table talks involving the five main parties in Northern Ireland. Those talks remain ongoing. Getting to this point has not been easy. The past few weeks have been difficult and challenging. The Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, and I worked closely with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, meeting bilaterally and trilaterally with the parties, in an effort to ensure that everybody was not only around the table but around the table at the same time. I am pleased that we achieved this and I am hopeful that the collective and committed engagement will lead to a successful outcome to the talks. However, by no means do I underestimate the challenge that lies ahead. A collapse of the institutions in Northern Ireland remains a real possibility and, therefore, it is incumbent on all of the five main parties in Northern Ireland, with the support of the two Governments, to seize what is a narrow window of opportunity and work hard to achieve what can be a positive outcome. A positive outcome is not only essential for politics in Northern Ireland but, first and foremost, for its people, who really deserve a functioning government.

My focus will continue to be on facilitating constructive talks and ensuring I do all I can to see to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, particularly in the context of the various institutions. I will also seek to ensure that the agreement and subsequent agreements are respected and protected. The key objective now is to make progress in intensive, focused negotiation on the key issues that the Taoiseach and Prime Minister Cameron set out, namely, the full implementation of the Stormont House Agreement and tackling the legacy of paramilitarism. The parties have already begun to address these issues in the resumed sessions of the talks that began last Monday. These opening exchanges were somewhat general in nature but I am under no illusion about the hard work that will be required in the detailed sessions scheduled for this week and next. It is my assessment that all of the parties were broadly constructive in the discussions which took place on Monday in seeking to outline what they see as the direction of travel towards resolving these difficult and challenging issues.

The issue of the impact legacy of paramilitarism and associated organised crime and criminality are clearly concerns that must be addressed in a robust way if these talks are to be successful. The aim must be to create the circumstances where, in the not-too-distant future, we have a generation in Northern Ireland that has not known sectarianism or the vestigial shadow of paramilitarism. In order to facilitate the resumption of round-table talks, the Secretary of State announced on Friday, 18 September, a British Government assessment of the current profile of paramilitarism in Northern Ireland. This is a once-off assessment which will be completed in the coming weeks. It does not pre-empt the discussion on the paramilitary issues in the talks. I expect that this assessment group, made up of Lord Carlile, Rosalie Flanagan and Stephen Shaw, QC, will report in a few weeks. I have made clear in my remarks, and I wish to bolster it here this evening in the Seanad, that the issue in the talks on the matter of paramilitarism cannot be delayed until the outcome of this British Government assessment is known. While the assessment may be of assistance to the Northern Ireland parties as they consider how best to tackle the impact and legacy of paramilitarism, it does not replace the need to begin focused work on how the continuing shadow of paramilitarism over communities in Northern Ireland can be eradicated for ever.

The work on tackling the legacy of paramilitarism may involve several aspects. It may, for example, include some form of future monitoring arrangement, perhaps modelled on the former Independent Monitoring Commission. There is a crucial need to set out a vision for a Northern Ireland beyond the shadow of paramilitary activity and its associated criminality and a plan for how to best realise it. This is one major focus of the talks. The Irish Government, together with its British counterpart, will actively contribute to finding a way forward on these issues but, ultimately, it is essential that the parties agree a shared vision and a common plan to move society in Northern Ireland to full normalisation. I add, for the sake of clarity, that the British Government assessment is a separate matter from the request made by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald, to the Garda Commissioner. The Garda focus is on the circumstances in this jurisdiction. The Garda authorities work very closely with their counterparts in the PSNI on an ongoing basis in respect of the security threat and across the range of other policing challenges facing the two services in our respective jurisdictions.

In light of recent developments with regard to the murder of Kevin McGuigan, the Minister for Justice and Equality asked the Garda Commissioner to maintain that liaison with the PSNI in respect of its investigation and to give her a fresh assessment in light of any evidence emerging from the investigation. It is essential that the PSNI be allowed to carry on its investigation into the murder of Mr. McGuigan without fear or favour. That investigation is a matter of evidence and solely a matter of evidence.