Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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229. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the outcome of the recent British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference with particular reference to legacy issues and the need to implement in full the Stormont House Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61100/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It has been the consistent position of the Government that the Stormont House Agreement provides a balanced and comprehensive framework to address the legacy of the Troubles.

We remain ready to engage with concerns or issues to do with the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement but any such changes must be discussed and agreed by the parties and both Governments. It is vital that any approach is collective if it is to work, and crucially, that it meets both the needs of victims and our shared international human rights obligations.

I have taken every opportunity in our regular engagements with the British Government, including at the recent British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIGC) on 2 December, to set out this position.

We have cautioned the British Government strongly against any unilateral action on this most sensitive of issues and I did so again at this BIIGC meeting.

As agreed at the BIIGC on 24 June, the Government joined the British Government and the Northern Irish parties in a process of engagement of these issues, with discussions beginning in July. The intention has been to find an agreed way forward that will allow implementing legislation to be introduced in both the UK and Ireland.

As we have consistently stated, a statute of limitations as proposed by the UK Government in their Command Paper is not something the Government can support. It is important to say that there has been a clear message from victims groups throughout this process that this cannot be the way forward.

At the last BIIGC, which took place on 2 December, I also raised our concerns in relation to specific individual legacy cases, including the Dublin-Monaghan bombings.

The position of the Government is guided by the All-Party Dáil motion on the 1974 Dublin Monaghan bombings that was adopted by the Dáil on 25 May 2016, like those adopted in 2008 and 2011, which calls on the British Government to allow access by an independent, international judicial figure to all original documents relating to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, as well as the Dublin bombings of 1972 and 1973, the bombing of Kay’s Tavern in Dundalk and the murder of Seamus Ludlow. The Programme for Government reiterates Ireland’s commitment to engaging with the British Government on this issue as matter of priority, in accordance with the All-Party Dáil motions.

The Government will continue to engage with the British Government on this request, at senior political level and in official level engagement by my Department, to pursue all possible avenues to achieve progress on this issue until a resolution is found.