Ms Margaret Urwin:

Thank you, Chairman, for inviting Justice for the Forgotten here today. I think most members are familiar with our organisation but, very briefly, for those who are not, Justice for the Forgotten was formed in 1996 initially to represent and support the bereaved families and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. However, we now also support the families of other bomb attacks, including the Dublin bombings of 1972 and 1973, as well as the Belturbet, Dundalk and Castleblayney bombings. We also represent the families of the Miami Showband and several families whose relatives were killed in single incident attacks. Our advocacy services are available to anyone bereaved or injured as a result of the conflict in this jurisdiction, regardless of political or religious affiliation. Since 2010, we have been affiliated to the Pat Finucane Centre.

Members have very kindly invited us here to provide an update on where we stand today regarding victims' issues. The most tragic and continuing legacy of the conflict is the impact on families and communities of the loss of life of family members and friends and the injuries and trauma suffered by survivors. This loss is compounded enormously by the failure to provide information on how and why these loved ones died or were wounded.

We advised the committee in January 2014, nearly four years ago, that there had been no compliance by the British Government with the motions passed unanimously by Dáil Éireann in 2008 and 2011. Since then a third motion was passed in May 2014 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and public calls were made by President Higgins, by the former Taoiseach and the former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade but the British authorities have felt comfortable in continuing to ignore the requests of a sovereign parliament. A year has passed since the former Taoiseach convened a meeting with all party leaders to hear their views and get their input on how this thorny issue might be resolved, but it is our understanding that no further meetings have been held. Perhaps our new Taoiseach might be requested to reinstate this process or, alternatively, this committee might meet with him.

We are pleased to inform the committee that the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland is currently investigating many of the cases whose families we support - Dublin and Monaghan, Dundalk, Castleblayney, the Miami Showband and John Francis Green as part of the Glenanne series of murders, which is known as Operation Newham. Dr. Michael Maguire expects to conclude his investigation and to report within the next 18 months. However, regarding cases where the deaths occurred in this jurisdiction, he requires access to the Barron-MacEntee archive and to the relevant Garda files. We understand this will require a High Court order in the case of the archive, and the invoking of the mutual legal assistance legislation in respect of the Garda files.

I received information yesterday, which is not in the presentation, with regard to mutual assistance. I understand that the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland sent an international letter of request to our Department of Justice and Equality on 23 August, and all it has received so far is an acknowledgement of receipt, but nothing else. That is something that will need to be followed up on. Dr. Maguire has made it very clear to us that without access to these files, he will be unable to conduct a thorough investigation into the southern cases.

As Ms Cadwallader said,there are at last indications that the Stormont House Agreement may soon be implemented. Unfortunately, this is not going to provide a level playing field for all victims of the conflict. The agreement envisages that two main bodies will be established - the Historical Inquiries Unit, HIU, and the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, ICIR.

We had a very productive meeting with the Northern Ireland Victims' Commissioner, Ms Judith Thompson, on Friday last, 6 October. Ms Thompson confirmed that the HIU, which is a formal investigative process and which could lead to convictions in some cases, will deal will deaths that occurred within Northern Ireland only, or cases that have been passed on by the Police Ombudsman.

We have had one case accepted by the Police Ombudsman - this is separate from the Glenanne series - but the murder occurred in the Republic of Ireland. Dr. Maguire does not anticipate being in a position to investigate this case for a number of years because of his lack of financial resources. As Ms Cadwallader pointed out, the Police Ombudsman is being starved of funding. It is unclear as to what will happen to this case as the HIU may indicate that it is outside its jurisdiction. This family has an expectation that the case will be dealt with and it must not be allowed to fall through the cracks.

The ICIR - a truth recovery process - will be the subject of an international agreement between the Irish and British Governments, modelled on the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains. Families will be able to approach the ICIR and seek information on the death of their relative. The Commission would then seek answers from intermediaries. However, it is clear that the ICIR is very much the poor relation, and families whose loved ones were killed outside of Northern Ireland are being treated differently and will have access to only a second class form of truth recovery. While the ICIR is not just intended for families outside of the North, as, for example, having received reports from the HIU, northern families might then approach the ICIR if they have outstanding questions at that point.

With regard to the HIU, it is difficult to understand why this will not also be the subject of an international agreement. It is our understanding that, ironically, some legislation will need to be passed by the Oireachtas in order to facilitate information being made available from South to North but not from North to South. Why not? Clearly, it will be necessary to put in place a team of gardaí to provide the information from South to North. Why can this team not also accept information from North to South? What happens to information that might be discovered in Northern Ireland relating to southern cases?

In fact, it might be useful if a review were to be done on all conflict-related southern cases with a cross-Border element in order to ascertain where information is missing and seek to fill in the gaps.

The cases that are being examined by the Police Ombudsman, as referred to previously, will be completed by him. They will not be passed on to a HIU because the investigation is at an advanced stage. However, there are a number of cases that were not accepted for investigation by the Police Ombudsman - the Dublin bombings of December 1972 and January 1973, the Belturbet bombing, and other single incident cases. The families of these victims will have no option but to rely on the ICIR for possible information. Any such information provided would be difficult to verify and very much a hit-and-miss affair.

We are told that members' focus today is on how they, as members of this committee, may collectively be able to assist us in our endeavours on behalf of victims. In summary, we would ask them to consider the following: how it may be possible to bring pressure to bear on the British so as to compel them to comply with the Dáil motions; to ensure that the Barron-MacEntee archive and relevant Garda files are made available to the Police Ombudsman in a prompt manner, and particularly to inquire of the Department of Justice and Equality as to what has happened regarding the international letter of request, which it acknowledged back in August; and to consider opening discussions with us on the role of the HIU and the ICIR, and to make representations to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Justice and Equality in order to make the process more equal for all families.

We have been informed that a consultation process on the legislation around the HIU and ICIR will begin shortly. How will families in this jurisdiction be consulted? Will this be facilitated by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade?

We would like to express our gratitude to the committee for their assistance in having our funding restored in July 2014 following our representations to it in January of that year. We continue to be funded by the reconciliation fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

We also thank members of the cross-party group who meet us regularly. Some of them are members of this committee, such as Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan, Deputy Brendan Smith and Senator Mark Daly, while the Chairman, Deputy Kathleen Funchion, has attended meetings on occasion, and Deputy Seán Crowe, who is here as well, convenes the meetings for us.