News

Fresh Start discussed in Dublin talks

The Republic's foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan
The Republic's foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan

THE implementation of last month's Fresh Start agreement will dominate the agenda at meetings in Dublin today involving Stormont ministers and the British and Irish governments.

The Republic's Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan is also expected to raise the Dublin and Monaghan bombings in a bilateral meeting with Secretary of State Theresa Villiers.

Speaking ahead of the meetings, Mr Flanagan said: "Following the successful conclusion of talks last month, we have begun to implement the provisions of the Fresh Start agreement.

"Work has continued to progress the commitments on legacy in the Stormont House Agreement, with the needs of victims and survivors at the core of our focus in this regard."

The minister said he and Ms Villiers would discuss the options for the two governments to take forward work on the legacy of the Troubles.

"We will also discuss the Dáil resolutions regarding the Dublin and Monaghan bombings," he said.

After their bilateral meeting, Mr Flanagan and Ms Villiers will be joined First Minister Peter Robinson, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Justice Minister David Ford.

This meeting will focus on the elements of the agreement dealing with cross-border organised crime including the establishment of a joint agency task force.

Last month Mr Flanagan told The Irish News of his frustration that a request to the British government for documents relating to the 1974 atrocities had come to nothing.

A report in 2003 by former Irish Supreme Court judge Henry Barron found grounds for suspecting the bombers may have been helped British security forces.

Last year the Irish government called on the British government to allow the documents it possessed to be assessed by an independent international judicial figure, however, to date the request has proved fruitless.

"I'm both disappointed and frustrated at the lack of engagement on the part of the British government to information we have sought on the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, one of the most horrific atrocities of the entire Troubles era," the minister said.

"I believe it's well beyond time now that documentation which is both appropriate and necessary should be forthcoming."