Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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541. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the announcement on 9 March 2015 by Sinn Féin to withdraw its support for the Social Welfare Bill in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11623/15]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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542. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views regarding the future of the Northern Ireland Executive, in view of the recent announcement of Sinn Féin on 9 March 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11624/15]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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543. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if there will be implications for the Northern Ireland Executive following the withdrawal of support for the Social Welfare Bill by Sinn Féin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11626/15]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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544. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the implications for the Stormont House Agreement following Sinn Féin's announcement of withdrawal of its support for the Social Welfare Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11627/15]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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545. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his plans to meet the British Secretary of State, Ms Theresa Villiers, to discuss the announcement of Sinn Féin to withdraw its support for the Social Welfare Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11630/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 541 to 545, inclusive, together.

The effective and expeditious implementation of the totality of the provisions of the Stormont House Agreement is a key priority of the Government.

It is important to ensure that the recent developments in relation to the Welfare Bill in Northern Ireland do not have a corrosive impact on the wider implementation of the Agreement. That is why the Government has encouraged all parties to stand back and consider the overall potential benefit for the people of Northern Ireland offered by the Stormont House Agreement and to ensure that this potential is fully achieved.

The Irish Government was not a party to the negotiations late last year in Stormont Castle or Stormont House which dealt specifically with budgets and financial issues. Recent and ongoing discussions on these matters take place primarily between the Northern Ireland Executive Party leaders themselves. For that reason, I have called on the Northern Ireland parties, and in particular Sinn Féin and the DUP, to work together to find a solution to the current difficulties on welfare. I know that work is ongoing by Northern Ireland’s political leaders to resolve the welfare issue, and I understand that some progress has been made.

I have stayed in close contact with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and with Northern Ireland's party leaders on this matter. I met with them most recently at the second implementation and review meeting of the Stormont House Agreement in Belfast on 27 March. The Taoiseach also met with the First Minister and deputy First Minister during his visit to Belfast on the previous day.

In all contacts I have underlined that the success of the Agreement is contingent on the faithful implementation of the totality of its provisions. Our collective objective must be to build on the good work that has already been done towards the Agreement's implementation and to maintain forward momentum.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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546. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if there has been a meeting in his Department since December 2014 regarding the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11632/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The effective and expeditious implementation of the Stormont House Agreement is a major focus of the Government with a view to advancing its twin aims of economic prosperity and reconciliation for Northern Ireland. The work of implementing the Agreement continues at political and official level.

In accordance with the review and monitoring provisions of the Stormont House Agreement, quarterly review meetings are held involving the Northern Ireland Executive party leaders and the British and Irish Governments.

The second such meeting took place in Belfast on 27 March at which I represented the Government. The meeting reviewed progress made to date on the detailed implementation timeline for the Stormont House Agreement, which was agreed by the NI Executive party leaders and the two Governments at the first review meeting of 30 January.

On 11 February, I met with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers during her visit to Dublin. We discussed a broad range of issues including the next steps in the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement.

On 25 February, I represented the Government, together with Minister of State Seán Sherlock, at the North South Ministerial Council meeting in institutional format. Both First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness represented the Northern Ireland Executive. We considered a report on possible new sectoral priorities for North/South cooperation, as provided for under the Stormont House Agreement.

The next Stormont House Agreement review meeting is scheduled to take place in June. A six-monthly update on progress on implementation of the Agreement is due to be published at that time, in accordance with the review and monitoring provisions of the Agreement.

The Stormont House Agreement provides for the establishment of a number of new mechanisms to address the legacy of the past including an independent Historical Investigations Unit, an Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, an Oral History Archive and an Implementation and Reconciliation Group to oversee themes, archives and information recovery across the framework for dealing with the legacy of the past.

Primary legislation to establish the Historical Investigations Unit will be taken forward at Westminster and I understand that the intention is to bring forward legislation as soon as possible to enable the Unit to be established in 2016.

The Government has committed to putting all necessary arrangements in place, including legislation where necessary, to support the new framework on the past. Any such legislation in this jurisdiction will be a matter for consideration by the Minister for Justice and Equality in the first instance.