Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad we are having this debate again, having had one just a number of weeks ago following the commemoration of the awful atrocity in Derry on Bloody Sunday. I am glad Deputy Gannon referred earlier to the work of people like Stephen Travers and Eugene Reavey. In fact some Deputies and I had an opportunity earlier today to have a very long and detailed conversation with Stephen Travers. I know both Stephen and Eugene over many years and I know they have drawn much of their inspiration from the work of Seamus Mallon and the leadership that he showed over the years in the great work they do in the whole area of speaking to groups and meeting with other families who were also victims.

I know the late Seamus Mallon, an outstanding Irish nationalist, encouraged them to carry out their work. I know my former Dáil colleague and good friend Rory O’Hanlon has been similarly supportive of the work of Eugene and Stephen. It is very important we recognise the work of different individuals and groups. Many of the groups throughout Northern Ireland, in particular, like the WAVE trauma group, are powerful advocates for victims and for advocating on behalf of people in regard to their particular needs. Eugene and Stephen set up the Truth and Reconciliation Platform and have spoken to hundreds of people who have suffered similarly to themselves in many different forums. They have found it very important that people have the opportunities to outline what they have been through and what they would like to see achieved.

Unfortunately, most of them realise that in many instances people will not be brought to justice for the terrible tragedies inflicted on innocent people, but if the truth at least was arrived at, it would be so important. One of the things they talk about is the need for our young people to know what went on in our country. It is so disappointing when one hears of so many people today who do not study the subject of history at second level school. Both history and geography are basic parameters for all of us in regard to what we need to know about her own region, country and our own backgrounds.

The proposals published by the British Government last July for a statute of limitations - basically an amnesty - ending criminal investigations and prosecutions relating to Troubles-related incidents as well as inquests and civil litigation have caused, very understandably, very significant distress, alarm and disquiet all across this island and in Britain as well. It is an absolutely appalling proposal.

The proposals represent a marked and fundamental departure from what the British Government agreed with the Irish Government and the political parties in Northern Ireland in the Stormont House Agreement. That agreement was hard fought for and hard won. It should be honoured and implemented. It puts the parameters and structures in place to deal with legacy issues.

More recently, the published reports by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland reveal absolutely shocking behaviour. Those of us who read Anne Cadwallader's book on the activities of the Glenanne gang and others perhaps were not shocked by some of the findings, but they brought home with a clear focus the terrible atrocities that were facilitated by state forces. The Police Ombudsman described collusive behaviour, collusion and, essentially, the use of agents and weapons, including the handing back of weapons to loyalist paramilitaries. That was done by agents of a state. It is deplorable behaviour. There was mention earlier by colleagues here of the terrible atrocity in Sean Graham bookmakers and the terrible loss of life on that awful, tragic day. The ombudsman's report has found very strong evidence of investigative intelligence failures and collusive behaviours by the then RUC, including the continued unjustifiable use of informants involved in serious criminality and murder. Crucially, and again unacceptably, there was the return of weapons to loyalist paramilitaries. I commend the ombudsman on producing this report. It lays out in stark detail what people went through and what the type of behaviour was.

We have often discussed in the committee, in bilateral meetings and on Question Time in the Dáil the failure of the British Government to respond to the three unanimous requests of this Parliament for access to papers and files pertaining to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974. It is deplorable that the British Government has not responded. I spoke on a number of occasions over the past 12 months in this House about the bombing in Belturbet in 1972, when two young innocent people, Geraldine O'Reilly and Patrick Stanley, were murdered. I put information on the record of this House about 12 months ago whereby there is conclusive evidence that the bomb was brought across the Border from County Fermanagh, with a clear link with loyalist paramilitaries as well. I again take the opportunity to commend the work of Professor Edward Burke of the University of Nottingham. That gave us the material that I was glad to put on the record of the House, from the point of view of it being given to our agencies, the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána, to pursue. We want to see the truth in respect of those desperate atrocities.

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