Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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666. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will make representations to the British and Northern Irish authorities regarding prisoner issues in a prison (details supplied). [26681/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government has an ongoing interest in the humanitarian welfare of prisoners in the separated regime. The August 2010 agreement regarding certain matters in the Maghaberry Prison was a mechanism which allowed grievances to be addressed. In 2014, four independent assessors appointed by the then Northern Ireland Minister for Justice published a Stocktake report on implementation of the 2010 agreement. Some of those independent assessors had been involved in brokering the 2010 agreement. The Stocktake report stated that not all the principles of the 2010 agreement were adhered to, nor had all undertakings been acted upon. The recommendations of the Stocktake report were accepted by the then Northern Ireland Minister for Justice. One recommendation was to the Northern Ireland Office. There have been difficulties in delivery on the recommendations of the Stocktake report, which my predecessor raised with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and with the Northern Ireland Minister for Justice. These issues are also raised on an ongoing basis at official level, including by my officials in the Belfast Secretariat.

Underpinning the 2010 agreement was a commitment to uphold the safety of prison staff. The murders of two prison officers, that of David Black in 2012 and of Adrian Ismay last year, have impacted on the trust relationships within the prison and complicated the differences between prison management and those in the separated regime.

The Northern Ireland Executive’s Action Plan on Paramilitarism commits to establish a review of the separated regime in Maghaberry. This is a welcome initiative which I hope would assist in moving forward issues such as movement on landings in Maghaberry, for the betterment of all, prisoners and staff. I look forward to the review being put in place once there is a new Executive up and running at Stormont.