Mr. Colm O'Gorman:

I hope that will answer Deputy Brendan Smith's question on the failure of the British Government to respond positively to the request to hand over information. It is very clear that we want to see meaningful, effective investigations and inquiries of violations, wherever they have occurred. The obligation on state parties is to ensure that happens.

Deputy Joe O’Reilly has left the meeting, but I wish to make a quick comment in response to his question about the conflict between what he saw as our take on the Downey case and its implications and the position presented by Deputy Seán Crowe. Our take, if we can describe it as such, is only based on what we are aware of from what is already in the public domain on the issue. That speaks to the general concern about the piecemeal approach, lack of clarity, information, transparency and effective, cohesive processes to deal with the past and the complications that arise because of this.