merrion street

Minister highlights new plans to tackle paramilitarism

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan, TD, has today outlined the progress made in the Fresh Start Agreement to Dáil Éireann following his co-chairing of ten weeks of talks in Stormont.

Minister Flanagan reminded Dáil colleagues that before the agreement Northern Ireland’s power-sharing institutions stood on the brink of collapse:

“A situation had evolved which, at the time, led me to describe the power-sharing institutions as being at the edge of the precipice. A collapse of the power-sharing institutions was a very real prospect, an outcome that would have represented a grave setback for the delivery of peace, prosperity and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.”

Following ten weeks of talks co-chaired by Minister Flanagan an agreement has now been reached. On the contents of the agreement Minister Flanagan said:

“It sets out a plan for ending paramilitarism and tackling organised crime. Significantly the parties have made a firm commitment to achieving a society free of paramilitarism, to working for the disbandment of all paramilitary organisations and their structures and to challenging paramilitary attempts to control communities. A strategy to achieve this will be put in place by the Northern Ireland Executive and an international body will be established to report on progress towards ending continuing paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland.

“This agreement is also about financial stability and reform. Pursuing economic prosperity and job creation is critical to building a peaceful society in Northern Ireland. In recognition of this, the Irish Government has committed to providing funding for important infrastructure projects, such as the A5 road, as well as for investment to stimulate economic growth in the North West Region. This is not only important for economic development in Northern Ireland but also for building an all island economy that creates jobs and prosperity. It complements the Government’s focus on spreading the benefits of a recovering economy to the regions and our series of regional Action Plans for Jobs."

Minister Flanagan expressed his regret that agreement had not been reached on the implementation of provisions of the Stormont House Agreement dealing with the legacy of the past. Minister Flanagan said:

“I share the deep disappointment of the victims and survivors of the Troubles and their families. I am particularly disappointed given that great progress which was made during the talks on many of the details for the establishment of the new institutions. We were in fact very close to agreement on a range of issues, including:

• Ensuring the operational independence of the Historical Investigations Unit;
• Guaranteeing the anonymity and inadmissibility of information provided to the Independent Commission for Information Retrieval (ICIR) while making clear that there would be no amnesty for any criminal offences;
• Placing the Implementation and Reconciliation Group on a statutory footing and settling on the purpose and functions of the this group; and
• On the detail and operation of the Oral History Archive.

“The Irish and British Governments have also agreed the international agreement necessary for the establishment of the ICIR. Therefore, many of the building blocks are in place for the establishment of the new legacy institutions.”