Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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157. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on his meeting with the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 20 May 2015. [22603/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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On 19 May, I met with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers MP, in Dublin. We discussed a range of legacy and political issues. It was an opportunity also for the Secretary of State and me to discuss the current political impasse within the Northern Ireland Executive.

At that meeting, I again raised with Secretary of State Villiers the issue of access by an independent international judicial figure to original documents in the possession of the British Government relating to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. I also briefed her on my recent meeting with Justice for the Forgotten on 15 May, on the eve of ceremonies in Dublin to mark the 41st anniversary of the bombings.

The Secretary of State assured me that she is actively considering how her Government can respond to the issue of access to the relevant documents.

We discussed the case of the late Pat Finucane. I made clear that the Irish Government considers there was a political commitment made at the highest level by both Governments at Weston Park in 2001 in relation to the holding of public inquiries in a number of controversial cases and that this commitment remains unfulfilled in the case of Pat Finucane. The Secretary of State repeated that the De Silva Review of December 2012 and Prime Minister Cameron’s apology in Parliament constitute the British Government’s response to this case.

I also outlined, as I had in the Seanad Éireann on 14 May, the Irish Government’s serious concerns in relation to any proposal to replace the 1998 UK Human Rights Act without taking account of the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement.

The Secretary of State and I discussed and welcomed the then approaching visit of TRH the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall to Ireland and Northern Ireland. I believe the visit served as a further important contribution to building peace and reconciliation on this island.

Since 19 May, I have remained in close contact with the Secretary of State and with the Northern Ireland Executive Parties. I represented the Government, together with Minister of State Seán Sherlock, at the Review meeting of the Stormont House Agreement which took place in Belfast on 2 June where in addition to the Review roundtable meeting, Minister Sherlock and I also had bilateral meetings with each of the Northern Ireland Executive political parties and with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who was accompanied by NIO Parliamentary Under-Secretary Ben Wallace, MP.