Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for appearing before the committee and telling us their stories and the stories of the people with whom they are dealing. I am on the all-party consultation group on the decade of commemorations which is dealing with an event that happened 100 years ago. A statement made by the grandson of Éamon De Valera said there is not a hierarchy of victims. People might believe there is a hierarchy of causes but there is not a hierarchy of victims because the suffering of their families is equally traumatic to them, no matter what the circumstances of how their loved one died. It is amazing to hear how the practicalities of the families and the suffering of those who survived atrocities goes on. The practicalities of simple things, such as assistance in regard to housing adaptation grants, mean that the suffering continues daily. As Mr. Ian Bothwell said, we have not yet heard from the victims and the families because of the political situation in the North.

The most appalling event of the past century was the extermination of the Jews in Auschwitz. There were 3,000 security personnel, SS officers, in Auschwitz at any one time, yet after Nuremberg only 80 of those ever appeared before a court, not because they could not be found but because of the political situation in Europe afterwards. We now see a replication in the North of what happened in the aftermath of the Second World War. The political situation in Westminster, here and in the North is stopping justice for the victims and the families of those who have suffered in the North. Justice delayed is justice denied. We do not want a situation where the people with whom the witnesses are dealing not only do not receive justice but also do not receive the practical help that Mr. Kenny Donaldson mentioned in respect of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings but which applies on all sides. If this situation occurs, that means the healing Sr. Maura Twohig spoke about for a nurse, who is dealing with an issue that happened 18 years previously, just does not come. She was lucky to receive the help of the witnesses but there are thousands of others who have not. I thank the witnesses for their statements.