Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Ministerial Statement by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 18 March (HLWS163), what discussions they had with political parties in (1) Northern Ireland, and (2) the Republic of Ireland, about their proposals to address legacy issues in Northern Ireland before their announcement; and if they had no such discussions, why not.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland spoke to the Irish Government and all party leaders in Northern Ireland before the Government’s Written Ministerial Statement was published on 18 March.

The statement set out our high level proposals for dealing with legacy issues, and signalled the beginning of a period of engagement with the Irish Government, the Northern Ireland parties and others. We have begun the engagement process and remain committed to making progress on this important issue, whilst being sensitive to the challenging context in which we are all working.