Cabinet Committees Dail Éireann — 2025-11-26 ============================================================ Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central I thank all of the Deputies for raising a variety of issues. Deputy Brendan Smith was first up. In respect of the legacy framework, the measures announced in the joint framework were published in September and provide a pathway to truth and accountability. That is why I went to London to meet Keir Starmer. It was one of those trips. I take it that people accept that we have to go to London every now and again to meet the Prime Minister. It was to make sure we got the legacy Bill over the line because it is an important piece of legislation that is certainly far superior to the previous legacy Act of the last British Government. The British Government published the Bill amending the 2023 legacy Act on 14 October, so that is the progress the Deputy was asking for. The second reading of that Bill took place in the House of Commons on 18 November. To be fair, we believe that represents speed and demonstrates the seriousness with which they are approaching this essential work. The key test for us will be whether it faithfully reflects what is in the joint framework. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the UK secretary of state, Hilary Benn, discussed the legacy framework in their introductory call last week. The Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, also discussed this with the secretary of state, Mr. Benn, at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, which took place on 17 November because we, too, have responsibilities in this jurisdiction. While we can only legislate once the UK legislation is enacted, the Minister for justice, Jim O'Callaghan, has said he is hopeful that the general scheme of the Bill will be published in April or May of next year. Enabling reciprocal co-operation between the two jurisdictions is absolutely at the heart of the agreed joint framework on legacy. The Garda Commissioner is also committed to the establishment by the end of this year of a dedicated unit as a central point of contact in relation to Troubles-related investigations undertaken by An Garda Síochána. That is also in the joint framework. An Garda Síochána has also committed, where possible, to answer questions that a family may have in relation to the investigation of a Troubles-related incident and provide a report to the family. In respect of the Belturbet and Dublin-Monaghan bombings, the publication of the Denton report may very well shed light on the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. We have to await the outcome of that. I know it is into the Glenanne Gang and the atrocities they perpetrated, but that will be important. I know that Deputy Smith has been a strong advocate on the Belturbet and Dublin-Monaghan bombings. Deputy McGreehan raised a very important point about the treatment for tax purposes of workers who cross the Border. We do not have that resolved yet. There have been ongoing issues, or attempts to do that, between the respective Departments of finance and I am pushing through the cross-Border bodies and through the Department of Finance to get some progress on that. We are also working with employers and unions through the LEEF process to see can we make progress on it. It is an issue for the seamless transfer of workers North to South and South to North. It is more difficult in terms of harmonisation of prices North and South. Different Governments have different policies. I have not seen today's budget in respect of the UK yet but that could even bring in more taxation. We do not know how that will manifest. I am conscious also that it is 50 years since the Dundalk bombing. Maidir le ceist an Teachta Heneghan, tá deacracht ann toisc an gaol atá ann. Tá dualgas ar an Executive airgead a chur ar fáil d’Fhoras na Gaeilge agus caithfimid an rud céanna a dhéanamh. Is féidir linn níos mó a chur ar fáil. Trí shared island, tá níos mó á dhéanamh againn, maraon leis an méid atá ag teacht go hoifigiúil ón Rialtas, chun gnóthaí trí Ghaeilge a chothú agus tacaíocht a thabhairt. Mar sin beimid ag déanamh sin. I will come back to the shared island initiative later. Deputy Ó Murchú and others raised constitutional issues and so on. I think reconciliation cannot be postponed, Deputy. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-11-26/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:22+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-11-26