Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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258. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and outstanding issues regarding same. [30196/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government’s firm position is that the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent Agreements must be implemented in full, and this is reflected in the Programme for Partnership Government. The Agreements, and the principles and values underpinning them, are at the core of the Government’s approach to peace, reconciliation and prosperity on this island. I am currently representing the Government at the ongoing talks’ process in Belfast to support the formation of an Executive. I believe that an agreement is within reach – an agreement that would allow a power-sharing Executive to be formed on a sustainable basis. All parties are committed to the successful operation of all of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement and everyone agrees that devolution is the best way to deliver for all of the people of Northern Ireland.

In terms of outstanding commitments, respect for linguistic diversity and the Irish language are important elements of the Good Friday Agreement. An Irish Language Act in Northern Ireland, to be enacted by the British Government, was provided for in the St Andrews Agreement in 2006. While to date there had been no agreement within the Executive to take this, now devolved, matter forward it is one of the issues currently under discussion at the talks in Belfast. In that context I have made clear the Government’s continued and clear support for a statutory basis for the Irish Language in Northern Ireland, as envisaged under the St Andrews Agreement.

As reflected in the Programme for Partnership Government, the Government remains supportive of and continues to advocate for the advancement of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. Indeed, the continued value of a Bill of Rights in the context of Brexit was one of the themes which emerged from the All Island Civic Dialogue sectoral on Human Rights under the Good Friday Agreement which took place in February.

A North South Consultative Forum is a further important outstanding element envisaged under the Good Friday Agreement. In 2008, the then Government sent proposals for such a Forum to the Northern Ireland Executive, but there has been no substantive response. Between 2009 and 2011, three consultative conferences were hosted in Dublin to support the establishment of the Forum. While the issue remains on the agenda of the North South Ministerial Council, the Northern Ireland Executive has not been able to give its assent to the establishment of the Forum.

The Government views as a solemn responsibility our role and mandate as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. We will spare no effort to fulfil our duty as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement and this includes working to ensure the effective operation of its institutions and the implementation of outstanding commitments. We will continue to work to this end with the British Government to support and facilitate the parties in their efforts to reach agreement in the current talks process in Belfast.