Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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506. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the legislative measures that will require implementation by the Houses of the Oireachtas, following the Stormont House Agreement; the proposed time scale for the enactment of such legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8227/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Stormont House Agreement identified a number of areas in which legislation may be required, particularly regarding the new institutions to be established under the Agreement’s provisions on dealing with the past.

On 30 January, the first implementation and review meeting of the Agreement was held at which a detailed implementation timetable regarding all aspects of the Agreement, including legislation where appropriate, was agreed.

The Government will in due course propose legislation for consideration by the Oireachtas to facilitate the establishment of the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, a body which will enable victims and survivors to seek and privately receive information about the deaths of their loved ones, as per the terms of the Stormont House Agreement. In this regard, my Department is in ongoing contact with the Department of Justice and Equality which will take the lead in preparing this legislation. We are also in ongoing contact with our counterparts in Westminster and the Northern Ireland Assembly to ensure coherence of legislative provisions given the cross-jurisdiction nature of a number of the Agreement’s provisions.

The Government remains committed to playing its role to ensure that the Agreement is fully implemented, and will take all necessary measures in this regard.