Mr. Mickey Brady:

I thank the witnesses very much for the presentations. Ms Cadwallader mentioned state weapons being used in murder. I would like to mention a case that I had some personal knowledge of. I worked in Belfast in the 1970s when the Shankill Butchers were pursuing their reign of terror. A colleague of mine, Ted McQuaid, was murdered on the Cliftonville Road in the mid-1970s. He was shot by a guy who got out of a black taxi. They think it was Lenny Murphy who shot him. Mr. McQuaid was shot with a weapon that had been taken off a UDR man in a drinking club in the Shankill about two days before that particular night. After he was shot, and while he was still dying on the ground, the British Army were there. One of them actually said, as far as I know from colleagues who were there, the act of contrition into his ear so they were on the scene. The taxi was driving away and it was pointed out to them, but they did nothing. Reading the HET report, the RUC knew within two days who had taken that weapon off the UDR man - "taken" is possibly a euphemism as it was probably or possibly given to them - but they did nothing about that.

If one considers the case of the Shankill Butchers, they were not using cars that were burnt out. They were using a black taxi. That was the vehicle that was used all the time. That was just one indication and it is a case that has not really been mentioned over the years. Mr. McQuaid's brother lives in Newry. I have spoken to him over the years and that is another family that has never had justice. Ted McQuaid was 25. He was newly married and had just bought a new house in Suffolk, and his life was taken from him.

In terms of people dying, I would have a lot of contact with the O'Hare family. Majella O'Hare was, again, murdered by the British Army. She was shot with a heavy duty machine gun. She was 12 years of age. If one reads that HET report, the paratrooper - I think they called him Michael Williams - was taken to court and acquitted. That family has never had justice because she was shot going to confession in a church. Her father was in the graveyard cutting grass when it happened and he was on the scene. Reading the report, ten British soldiers were present at a checkpoint - the marines were coming in to take over from the paras - when Michael Williams shot Majella O'Hare. He claimed he saw a gunman, allegedly, and this was why he fired. Eight of the soldiers said they agreed with him. The two that were closest to him disagreed with him but that was never taken into account. Those are just examples.

The other question I would ask Ms Urwin particularly is, in terms of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, whether she thinks that on both sides of the Border, regarding the British Government and indeed the Government here in the Twenty-six Counties, that there is a lot more information that was known and could be released. That would expedite any investigation and resolution of that horrible atrocity.