Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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178. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will expedite legislation for the establishment of an independent commission on information retrieval as committed to under the Stormont House Agreement, and propose a timeline for the legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5962/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Stormont House Agreement was collectively agreed by the British and Irish governments and a majority of the political parties in Northern Ireland. It remains the agreed means of addressing the legacy of the past.

Within the framework of the Stormont House Agreement, it is envisioned that an Independent Commission on Information Retrieval (ICIR) would be established to enable victims and survivors to seek and privately receive information about the deaths of their next of kin during the Troubles.

The ICIR agreement was signed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in October 2015 and laid before the Oireachtas in January 2016. The Independent Commission can only be formally established once the necessary legislation has been enacted in both jurisdictions and the two Governments have notified each other of completion of all other domestic legal procedures required to bring the agreement into force.  The Government stands ready to introduce such legislation, and has consistently said that legislation in this jurisdiction to enable this State to meet its obligations under the Stormont House Agreement would be introduced in line with British legislation.  Regrettably the expected and necessary British legislation has not been tabled in Westminster.

However, in May 2022, the UK's introduced the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, which is now progressing through the House of Lords. This Bill takes a unilateral approach to addressing legacy issues and is not what was agreed in the Stormont House agreement.  Given this step, it has not been possible to progress the establishment of the ICIR. The British Government’s Legacy Bill, if implemented, we believe would not be compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights and would damage reconciliation efforts in Northern Ireland. The Bill as it stands is not fit for purpose, is not supported by political parties or civil society.

I have communicated the Government’s deep and fundamental concerns with the Legacy Bill, which have not been addressed by the British Government’s recent amendments, to the Secretary of State, including at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference on 19 January 2023. 

The British Government’s Legacy Bill has also come under intense criticism, including from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and members of the US House of Representatives. The British and Irish Governments have engaged on the Bill at the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers' meetings in Strasbourg. Since the Bill's publication, that Committee has produced three decisions, most recently in December 2022, which echo our serious concerns.

Throughout my previous roles and now as Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, I have valued the opportunity to meet with numerous victims' groups, families and survivors of Troubles-related attacks. At the beginning of January, I met with a number of victims and survivors and their representative group WAVE Trauma in Armagh. These meetings, and my longstanding engagement with victims have reinforced my resolve to ensure that the needs of victims and survivors is at the heart of any approach to legacy.

This Government continues to urge the UK to pause this legislation and return to a collective approach which is human rights compliant and delivers for victims.