Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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610. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if funding will be renewed in respect of the work of a group (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29626/15]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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611. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the proposals he has to raise again at an early date with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and with the British Foreign Secretary the need for the British Government to respond to the unanimous motions passed by Dáil Éireann in 2008 and 2011 in relation to the need to release papers and documents pertaining to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29627/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 610 and 611 together.

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 and Monaghan bombings. I have raised this issue with the British Government on a number of occasions, including most recently on 11 June, and have received assurances from the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland that the British Government is currently actively considering how it can respond to the Dáil motions. The Taoiseach also raised the Dublin and Monaghan bombings with British Prime Minister David Cameron on 18 June, underlining the Government’s continued support for the Dáil motions.

In 2014, Justice for the Forgotten, a group which as part of the Pat Finucane Centre campaigns on behalf of the Dublin and Monaghan families, received €48,000 from my Department’s Reconciliation Fund. Additional funding of €49,400 for 2015 was approved for Justice for the Forgotten in June.

I met with representatives of Justice for the Forgotten on 15 May 2015 to discuss the Government’s ongoing support for the all-party Dáil Motions of July 2008 and May 2011. I know that the Taoiseach met also with a representative of the group on 21 May 2015.