Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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122. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the actions his Department is taking to ensure the full implementation of the Stormont House Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28339/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The full implementation of the Stormont House Agreement remains a priority of this Government and continues to be a key focus in contacts with the Northern Ireland Executive and with the British Government. The Taoiseach and Prime Minister Cameron discussed implementation of the Agreement at their meeting in London on 18 June, underlining the collective benefit of full implementation.

To continue to take forward this work, Minister of State Seán Sherlock and I attended an Implementation and Review meeting of the Stormont House Agreement in Belfast on 25 June. This was an important opportunity to take stock of progress, including in the context of the ongoing political impasse in relation to welfare reform and wider budgetary issues. The meeting considered and approved for publication a progress report which outlines overall implementation of the Agreement, including work towards establishing new mechanisms to deal with the legacy of the past.

In addition, the Government and NI Executive continue to progress our work on North-South priorities as set out in the Stormont House Agreement; and the Government has already fulfilled many of its financial commitments under the Agreement, including the allocation of €5 million to the International Fund for Ireland and the disbursement of over €1.5 million from my Department's Reconciliation Fund.

While good progress has been made across many of the Agreement's work streams, a way forward needs to be found in relation to the ongoing impasse on welfare reform and wider budgetary issues. There is currently a limited window of opportunity resolve to address these issues. It is essential that the political leaders in Northern Ireland face up to their responsibility to find a sustainable resolution to the issues at hand, and intensify their efforts on delivering the Agreement as a whole. The Irish Government will continue to support this collective effort.