Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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47. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the comments made recently on past crimes from the Attorney General in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51400/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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It is clear that the legacy of the Past needs to be dealt with to allow Northern Ireland to move on to a truly peaceful and reconciled society.Efforts to address the legacy should be motivated, above all, by a commitment to making progress towards reconciliation and a cohesive society. The Panel of Parties Talks stimulated a welcome discussion on these issues with the engagement of a wide-range of stakeholders.

The Government’s position is that it is essential to acknowledge and to take account of the very real needs of victims in any process dealing with the legacy of the past. It is clear also that dealing with the legacy of the past will require a broad and considered range of measures and that an amnesty does not answer that need.

The Government is in regular contact with all the parties in the Northern Ireland Executive and with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. We continue to urge all Parties to grasp the opportunity offered by the draft Haass/O’Sullivan proposals to address the legacy of the past as part of a comprehensive agreement. The Government remains fully committed, as co-guarantor of the Agreements, to supporting further progress towards reconciliation, both in the context of these proposals and in the longer term.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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48. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will be raising the outstanding Weston Park agreement issues with Prime Minister Cameron; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53727/13]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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49. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will be repeating the request for an independent inquiry into the murder of Mr Pat Finucane following the Smithwick Inquiry Report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53728/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 48 and 49 together.

Over 3,500 people died during the Troubles. The suffering of their relatives and friends endures to this day. There is no hierarchy of loss or grief for these families.

However, both Governments accepted at Weston Park that certain cases from the past remained a source of grave public concern, particularly those giving rise to serious allegations of collusion by the security forces in each of our jurisdictions. Both Governments therefore committed to undertake a thorough investigation of allegations of collusion in the cases of the murders of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan, Pat Finucane, Lord Justice and Lady Gibson, Robert Hamill, Rosemary Nelson and Billy Wright. In line with Judge Cory’s subsequent recommendations, a Tribunal of Inquiry into the murders of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan was established by the Houses of the Oireachtas in 2005.

With the publication of the Smithwick Report last December, the Government has fulfilled the commitments we entered into at Weston Park, specifically in this jurisdiction to carry out an inquiry into the murders of Chief Superintendent Breen and Superintendent Buchanan. In line with this approach, we continue to call on the British Government for an independent public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. This is an approach which has cross-party support in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The past is having a corrosive effect on political life and on community relations in Northern Ireland. The proposals arising from the All-Party talks under the chairmanship of Richard Haass presents an opportunity to build strong mechanisms to deal with the past. The Irish Government, along with the British Government, will play its role in partnership with the NI Parties to the full as they complete this work. It is in all our interests to see Northern Ireland make further progress towards reconciliation.