Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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18. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has any recent discussion with the British government in relation to Northern Ireland legacy issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19707/23]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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42. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has had recent discussions with the British government in relation to the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill; if he has outlined again that it is unacceptable; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19776/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 18, 42 and 64 together.

The Government continues to consistently communicate its deep concerns about the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy & Reconciliation) Bill currently before the UK parliament.

I have engaged with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on legacy issues at every available opportunity, including at the British Irish Inter-Governmental Conference in January and at our most recent meeting, in Belfast earlier this month. The Taoiseach also raised the Legacy Bill with Prime Minister Sunak last week following the QUB 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement Conference.

During my recent engagements with the Secretary of State, I made clear our strong view that this Bill, if implemented as it stands, would not be compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights and would damage reconciliation efforts in Northern Ireland. It is not fit for purpose, is not supported by political parties or civil society in Northern Ireland. We have consistently maintained that any way forward on legacy must be based on agreed human rights standards, with victims at its centre.

At our recent meeting, I asked the Secretary of State to pause the progress of the current Bill, to allow a return to a collective approach.

In a month when we have marked the achievements of the Good Friday Agreement, we are reminded of our shared responsibility and our role as co-guarantors. The Good Friday Agreement says that we can best honour those who died, or were injured, and their families through a firm dedication to "reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust, and to the protection and vindication of the human rights of all". This has framed the Government’s approach to the legacy of the past: the needs of victims must be core and all relevant human rights obligations must be met. The needs and expectations of people who suffered through the violence of the Troubles are no different whether you live in Belfast, in Derry, in Belturbet, or in Dublin. Dealing effectively with the past will assist the achievement of a more reconciled society.

There has been consistent opposition to the UK Bill since it was published, and this opposition continues to grow internationally.

The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers has, on four occasions, in June, September and December 2022, and again last month, expressed its serious concerns about the Bill and its compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. While the process itself is confidential, my officials have briefed Council of Europe member states regularly on our concerns, and have made the Government's views clear in formal sessions.

In January and February, the UK Government published proposed amendments to its Bill. However, the Committee of Ministers in their decision last month expressed the “serious concern that those amendments do not sufficiently allay the concerns about the Bill”.

Other major international human rights actors have also made their views known. We have heard the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights express his concerns with the Bill, in particular its immunity scheme, and calling on the UK to reconsider its approach.

I have spoken directly with and listened to victims support groups and individual families who lost loved ones. They are all very clear that as the UK’s Legacy Bill progresses, the prospect that current mechanisms for truth and justice could be closed increases their anxiety. Every family deserves and is legally entitled to an effective investigation and to access to justice.

As I stated in Belfast last week “If we are to truly remember and honour the achievement of the Agreement, then we must all be honest in assessing the work that is still to be done; and the need for us to renew the spirit of dialogue which has been central to every advance from the earliest meetings thirty years ago up to today.”

This is a point I have repeatedly made to my counterparts in the British Government and will continue to do so. Once again, I urge them to pause this legislation and return to a partnership approach on this vital issue that goes to the heart of the process of reconciliation.