Mr. Mike Ritchie:

In respect of that point, if the family Mr. Mickey Brady knows wants to talk to us, we have gathered a fair amount of information about that and would be very happy to share it. Another point I will share with members is that in a couple of cases we are dealing with, the murders took place in this jurisdiction. One thing we have begun to explore is meeting with the Garda Síochána. First, we wrote to the then Minister for Justice and Equality and the then Garda Commissioner - both of whom have now changed - and they referred us to the cold case unit in the Garda. We have had quite a positive engagement with regard to two cases, which has provided us with more information because naturally, there will be a Garda file down here. At the very least, the possibility of a re-examination or review of that may provide some more information. As we understand it, the Garda is able to go to the North and ask for information from the PSNI and that might be something that is worth looking at.

We are not convinced that it gets much co-operation. The Garda Síochána has a way to go in terms of providing information, although the response we have received in that regard has been very good. However, it is worth bearing that in mind in regard to conflict-related deaths in this jurisdiction.

I thank Deputy Brendan Smith for his kind words and support. This work can sometimes be thankless. All of the support we get is very much appreciated. It does help the families that we represent to know that legislators here are interested in the issues at the heart of their cases. One of the most important things is continued interest. I should point out that recently there has been a transformation in the environment around dealing with relatives of victims. Previously this work was done by the Pat Finucane Centre and Relatives for Justice but following on from the European funding provided under the PEACE IV round of funding, there are now some 25 advocacy workers funded through the Victims & Survivors Service. PEACE IV funding is partly supported by the Irish Government and as some of those resources are used to meet the cost our salaries and the salaries of other organisations, the committee might be interested in reviewing what some of the other organisations are doing, some of which operate more on the loyalist side. The idea was that once the historical investigations unit, HIU, and the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, ICIR, were up and running, these extra resources would be made available to support families to engage with the new institutions. While the funding is now being made available through all of these organisations, the institutions are not yet up and running. It is a bit of a mismatch, which is a shame. The committee might be interested in exploring this area.

Ms Cadwallader asked earlier if the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade strikes the desk when speaking to his British counterparts. I was amused recently when researching some of the original shoot-to-kill cases in 1982 to note from The Irish Timesat that time that as a result of the prosecution of an RUC man in respect of one of those cases, it emerged that an RUC unit had crossed the Border to Castleblayney and was tracking and monitoring the activities of an INLA group in this jurisdiction without so much as a by your leave from the Garda Síochána. The former Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, was mightily unimpressed, carpeted the British ambassador and forced him to give an abject apology. We would like to see an abject apology on behalf of the British in regard to legacy issues. It might be worth refreshing the mind of the Government from time to time as to how it acted in the past. I understand that co-operation is far better than argument but sometimes co-operation does not get us very far with the British Government in this regard.

I thank the committee for the opportunity to appear before it today. I hope we can continue this relationship.