Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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20. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the outcome of any recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland concerning the motions passed unanimously by Dáil Éireann in 2008 and 2011 in relation to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings of 1974, with particular reference to access to files or papers held by the British authorities regarding these atrocities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2607/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Government fully supports the all-party Dáil motions of July 2008 and May 2011 urging the British Government to allow access by an independent international judicial figure to all original documents in their possession relating to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. I have raised this issue with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers MP, including most recently when I met her in Belfast on 15 January 2015. She has assured me that she would consider afresh how the British government can respond to the Dáil motions.

I welcome the continued all-party support for the campaign on behalf of the Dublin-Monaghan families. The Justice for the Forgotten campaign, which supports victims and their families and operates as a project of the Pat Finucane Centre, received grant support of €48,000 in 2014 from the Reconciliation Fund operated by my Department. The funding will assist Justice for the Forgottenwith its important work.

It is significant for victims and survivors of the Northern Ireland conflict – including in this jurisdiction – that the Stormont House Agreement provides for a new comprehensive framework for dealing with the legacy of the past. As part of the transition to long-term peace and stability, the participants in the Stormont House talks agreed an approach to dealing with the past which respects the following principles: promoting reconciliation; upholding the rule of law; acknowledging and addressing the suffering of victims and survivors; facilitating the pursuit of justice and information recovery; is human rights compliant; and is balanced, proportionate, transparent, fair and equitable. Both governments also made commitments in the Agreement on the matter of disclosure of information.

As part of the framework on the past set out in the Agreement, it is proposed that people in both jurisdictions will have access to an Independent Commission on Information Retrieval (ICIR), which will enable them to seek and receive information about the death of their loved ones during the Troubles. The establishment of an ICIR will require legislation in this jurisdiction, which the Government will progress in the months ahead.