John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My role in this matter was quite small, but I would like to illustrate how hard the families worked on this. I was appointed Dublin spokesperson for my party in 2016. As a Dublin spokesperson, along with colleagues who preceded me in that role, it fell to me to meet the families, which I did on a number of occasions along with my party leader, who was leader of the Opposition at the time.

I was sent in to bat and found that I had very little to bat with. Parliamentary questions and all the efforts made by me, by many members of the Opposition and by my predecessors in the role seemed to be met with silence. It became more and more frustrating meeting the families. It was with a great sense of surprise and shock initially but then huge delight that I woke one morning to learn that then Attorney General, Séamus Woulfe, who deserves huge commendation in this process, decided against the backdrop of decades of denial that an inquest ought to take place. That inquest has taken place, the verdict has been delivered and the Taoiseach and Ministers have spoken very eloquently. On my way into the Dáil today, I tried to place myself in the shoes of the parents, grandparents and siblings of the victims to see exactly what they might be feeling coming here. I hope they feel an enormous sense of vindication. I imagine that fatigue is one of the overriding feelings they have experienced.

As a very minor political player at the time - and I offer my apologies to Antoinette, who I have met several times, and other family members - the one thing I have learned is that behind every Minister are officials. Very often, officials provide the official answers that the Minister delivers. That is one of the most frustrating things I found, but, again, after four decades, politics worked when the Attorney General of the country said that it was way beyond time that an inquest was held.

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