Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 388: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the position regarding his contacts in respect of the Northern Ireland peace process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10246/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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In line with the commitments made by the Taoiseach and Prime Minister Blair at their meeting in Farmleigh on 26 January 2006, I have had ongoing contacts with Secretary of State Hain and with the political parties with the aim of advancing arrangements and a timetable for the restoration of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland as soon as possible. I met the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mr. Peter Hain, in London on 1 February when we jointly chaired a meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. We had a very useful and constructive meeting. At the meeting, the Secretary of State and I reaffirmed our commitment to bringing about an early restoration of devolved government on an inclusive basis. We confirmed that, in the period following the meeting, we would be stepping up our contacts with the political parties and, in particular, would be engaging in a joint series of meetings with them in order to discuss how best we could make progress on restoring the institutions at the earliest possible opportunity.

The first in a series of talks with the parties took place in Hillsborough on 6 February. On that date, the Secretary of State and I had a series of meetings with the DUP, the SDLP, the PUP, Sinn Féin, the UUP, Alliance and the UKUP. We had a further round of meetings again in Hillsborough on 20 February. In addition to these talks, separate discussions with the parties on strand one issues were convened by my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy Treacy, and Northern Ireland Minister, David Hanson. These formal meetings with the parties represented useful opportunities to test their views on the way forward and to listen to their concerns. They complement the informal contact which I maintain with a broad range of political figures in Northern Ireland.

I had a short meeting with Secretary of State Hain in London on 23 February to review progress. I also participated in the Taoiseach's meetings in Dublin with Sinn Féin on 1 March and with the SDLP on 2 March. On 8 March, when I accompanied the Taoiseach to Downing Street for a meeting with Prime Minister Blair, I also had a separate meeting with Secretary of State Hain. We took that opportunity to reflect again on our meetings with the parties and to consider a joint strategy for the period ahead.

Most recently, I travelled to the United States on 11 March where I attended a number of events over the St. Patrick's Day period both in Dallas and in Washington. In addition to accompanying the Taoiseach to his meeting with President Bush at the White House on 17 March, I had an opportunity to brief members of the House of Representatives and Senate, and a wide range of US contacts, on recent developments in the peace process and the Government's perspective on the way ahead. I also met informally with representatives of the Northern Ireland political parties present in the US for St. Patrick's Day.

As the Taoiseach and I have made clear, including in our remarks at the weekend, our firm objective is to achieve full restoration of the devolved institutions and to have the Assembly and Executive operational and fully functioning this year. We firmly believe that partnership government, as set down in the Good Friday Agreement and endorsed by the people, is the best way forward for Northern Ireland. In the coming weeks, the two Governments will announce our joint strategy to fully realise this objective in 2006.