Manage Preferences<\/a><\/p>\nMr Bryant said the aim is to get to a place where the Troubles Bill is passed in order to get answers for families who have lived with pain for 30 years.<\/p>\n
Speaking on RT\u00c9\u2019s News at One, Mr Bryant said that “we’ve got to get it right”.<\/p>\n
“It’s about getting answers for families, all sorts of different kinds of families, from the nationalist and the loyalist community, from families who worked or who had loved ones who were killed in the RUC or as part of Operation Banner,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Bryant said the bill will be introduced with some amendments when it is brought back to the House of Commons, adding: “I very much want to get it onto the statute book.”<\/p>\n
The MP for Rhondda and Ogmore in Wales added that people “need to understand that there’s not one set of people who are victims and there’s another set of people who are veterans” and that “many veterans are themselves victims”.<\/p>\n
Mr Bryant’s visit to Dublin today is his first official visit since taking up the role. He was appointed by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham in July, as part of a cabinet reshuffle after Keir Starmer left office.<\/p>\n
Mr Bryant also said that he was “completely and utterly shocked and daunted” to have been offered the Northern Ireland Secretary role by Mr Burnham.<\/p>\n
“It’s an extraordinary role in a way because you have a phenomenal degree of responsibility within Northern Ireland but you’re also Northern Ireland’s representative in the cabinet in London so it pulls in two directions at the same time.”<\/p>\n
Strong relationship between UK, Ireland vital<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters, Mr Bryant said that a strong relationship between the Irish and British governments is vital.<\/p>\n
Mr Bryant, who replaced Hilary Benn in the role, will meet with Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee and Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan.<\/p>\n
It is expected that the talks will focus on economic growth, joint security and legacy matters.<\/p>\n
Speaking ahead of the visit, Mr Bryant said the Irish-UK relationship was “fundamental to our shared security and prosperity” and had been greatly strengthened in recent years.<\/p>\n
“I am committed to working collaboratively with ministers in Dublin to foster joint cooperation, uphold the Good Friday Agreement and deliver on the commitments on legacy that both governments have made under the Joint Framework,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I am also here today to make the case for Northern Ireland’s immense economic potential, and for trade and investment that benefits communities both in Northern Ireland and across these shared islands.”<\/p>\n
Mr Bryant was joined by Northern Ireland Minister Ruth Anderson and the UK Ambassador to Dublin Kara Owen during a day of engagements.<\/p>\n
He also attended a meeting with business leaders from across Ireland and the UK, which will look at how to boost cross-border trade and investment.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, Mr Bryant has met with a number of victims’ groups and with representatives of British Army veterans to discuss the UK government’s approach to legacy issues.<\/p>\n
Last week, he said the UK government remained committed to the UK Troubles Bill, which it intends to use to repeal and replace controversial legacy institutions introduced by the former Tory Government.<\/p>\n
He said he was “acutely aware” that the bill was the “last chance” to properly address legacy issues and support those bereaved during the Troubles.<\/p>\n
“I want to ensure the Bill helps as many people impacted by the Troubles as possible get the answers they have long sought, and commands the confidence of those affected – including those who served bravely to protect law and order.”<\/p>\n
Bryant ‘bored’ with ‘sticking plaster’ approach to Stormont budget<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant has said he is “bored” with the “sticking plaster” approach to Stormont’s finance problems.<\/p>\n
He added that he is in talks with parties and aiming to “get to a place where we have a multi-year budget”.<\/p>\n
The power-sharing executive is still to agree a budget for the current financial year, with departments operating on contingency budgets since April.<\/p>\n
Stormont ministers signed a collective letter to UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham calling for “a fair funding envelope” saying the current level of finance from London “does not provide a sufficient basis to fund public services” in the region.<\/p>\n
In January this year, Sinn F\u00e9in Finance Minister John O\u2019Dowd unveiled a draft three-year budget but it was not agreed by other executive parties, highlighting “massive impacts” to public services with available funding.<\/p>\n
The UK Treasury has stepped in multiple times in the past to provide one-off payments or loans to Stormont to overcome budgetary issues, most recently with a \u00a3400 million reserve claim to be repaid over three years.<\/p>\n
Asked by reporters in Dublin if Mr Burnham would be visiting Northern Ireland with news of additional financial support for Stormont, Mr Bryant said: “We need to make sure that Stormont gets to a budget, a settled budget.<\/p>\n
“Not just for this year, because I\u2019m bored with this kind of sticking plaster issue of, we pour a little bit more cash in every year when there are troubles – we need to get to a several-year settlement.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m going to be having discussions with people later on this week and then again next week to get to a place where we have a multi-year budget and we sort out the financial pressures that the Stormont government has got.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK’s Northern Ireland Secretary has said that he has concerns that some people have “misunderstood” parts of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-604351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}