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

I thank Senator Currie for bringing this important matter to the attention of the Seanad but also for her ongoing work in regard to campaigning for change in this area and on the approach the British Government has decided to take in recent months.

The Government has been clear from the outset that the UK legacy Bill, as it stands, is not fit for purpose and it represents a unilateral move away from the Stormont House agreement. We also have serious doubts about whether the Bill is compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights. Overall, we are deeply concerned about the impact this Bill, if enacted, may have on the fragile process of reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

There is near-universal opposition to this Bill in Northern Ireland, including from the five main political parties and those representing victims and their families. This opposition was echoed by the UK Parliament's own joint committee on human rights, which has urged the UK Government to reconsider its whole approach. The Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords yesterday and opposition to it has become more vocal. This week, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all-Ireland and the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all-Ireland stated jointly that this Bill will deepen division and further demoralise all but a tiny minority of those it purports to help. It seems almost as though it has been designed to fail.

I raise our concerns about the Bill regularly in my contacts with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. I have also had discussions with the Northern Ireland political parties, with victims and their families, and with senior US politicians in recent weeks. Thanks to the Senator, I met with the Truth and Justice Movement in Leinster House. Following that meeting, I urged the Secretary of State to engage directly with victims to get their perspective on this legislation. The Secretary of State has indicated that he is open to considering amendments to the Bill. However, I have been very clear that any amendments would need to be radical and fundamentally change the substance of this Bill for it to meet our core concerns around immunity, compliance with human rights obligations and victims' participation. The Government cannot support a process which is not compliant with our obligations under the ECHR.

I am aware of increasing calls for Ireland to consider the initiation of an inter-state case at the European Court of Human Rights in regard to the Bill. The Government's current assessment is that such a step would be premature for now. The Government's approach to legacy and reconciliation has been always that it should be victim-centred, taking the Stormont House agreement as its starting point. We will continue to use all avenues, bilaterally and multilaterally, to effect change to this legislation. I welcome the Senator's continued engagement on the issue.

On a matter as sensitive as how we deal with the legacy of the past, of all things in Northern Ireland, it is the area where we should try to seek accommodation of each other's views and try to put in place a collective approach that communities, political parties and both Governments can buy into, support and advocate for, and ensure is a success. The idea that anyone would take the direct opposite approach on something as sensitive as legacy, with all of the trauma, hurt and really difficult memories that families are trying to cope with, and act unilaterally against the advice of virtually everybody in Northern Ireland, seems to me to be extraordinary. That is why we continue to urge the Secretary of State to reconsider this approach.

I have to say I have had good conversations with the Secretary of State on this. We have not agreed to a new approach but, certainly, I think he is listening, and it is important to say that. However, we have a long way to go, I am afraid, and we do not have much time to get there, given the movement of this legislation through Westminster, potentially, in the coming months. What we hear has got to be based on what is good for Northern Ireland, its communities and the families that have been traumatised by violence and brutality at times in the past. That has to be the only and primary consideration. If we do that, the two Governments, working with parties and, in particular, with victims groups and their families, can find a way forward that we can all support, but the current approach of the British Government and the legislation it has advocated for is not the way to do this.