Ms Margaret Urwin:

I thank the joint committee for inviting me to contribute. I very much appreciate it. My role is to deal with some of Dr. Leahy's recommendations. We agree with all of his recommendations as set out in his report. I will now comment on some of the recommendations in his executive summary.

Recommendation No. 1 is that the Government should set up a parallel historical investigations unit to its proposed counterpart in Northern Ireland. Failing that, he recommends that an oversight committee, body or independent person or persons should be appointed to monitor the progress of State institutions in investigating legacy cases. Justice for the Forgotten has consistently argued that such a body should be established. The failure to do so discriminates against families of victims of the conflict in this jurisdiction. They are prevented from having access to the principal mechanism of the Stormont House Agreement. All victims of the conflict should be treated equally. This is particularly important for the families of the victims of the Dublin bombings of December 1972 and January 1973 and those of the Belturbet bombing of December 1972 because they have no other avenue available to them. Complaints on their behalf to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland were not accepted for investigation. The remit of the ombudsman extends only to misfeasance by former police officers. If a complainant does not have enough evidence or information, then the ombudsman will not investigate misfeasance by the British Army or the UDR. Thus far, our Government has been resistant to setting up this mechanism, although at a meeting with An Taoiseach on 7 February 2019 he promised to examine the issue. We await the outcome of his examination.

These legacy cases cannot be lumped in with ordinary criminal cases. The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Victims and Survivors, Judith Thompson, is fully supportive of this approach.

Recommendation No. 5 relates to the oral history archive. This clearly needs to be accessible to potential contributors across Ireland and cannot simply be based in Belfast alone.

Recommendation No. 6 concerns the Government holding its own consultation on the Stormont House Agreement. We believe it should await feedback about its role from the Northern Ireland Office consultation process and thereafter hold meetings with victims' groups and others.

Recommendation No. 9 suggests the Government should implement any outstanding recommendations from the Barron, MacEntee and Smithwick reports. There are certainly outstanding recommendations from the Barron reports that have never been implemented.

In February 2005, the sub-committee of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights recommended in its final report on the Dublin bombings of December 1972 and January 1973 that aspects of the Garda investigations into the bombings of 1972 and 1973 and other issues in the period 1970-74 should be included in the Commission of Investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings of 1974. This, however, did not happen. Another recommendation from that report was that, because of the vast number of files in the Department of Justice that had not been made available to the National Archives, a committee of independent academics should be appointed to advise the Department. That committee was established but, in correspondence with Professor Mary Daly, who chaired the group, and Professor Eunan O'Halpin, who also served on the committee, we have been informed that it was suspended in 2009. This was allegedly due to the financial crisis at the time. It has not resumed its work. The basis for setting up the group in the first place was to consider the release of files from the Department relating to British and loyalist violence during the 1970s. At the time the committee was suspended it had reached only as far as the 1940s. Our understanding is that the failure to release files is in breach of the National Archives Act 1986.

In March 2006, the sub-committee of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights recommended in its final report on the murder of Seamus Ludlow that two commissions of investigation with very specific terms of reference should be established into the case. I cannot think of a family in any legacy case in this jurisdiction that has been treated as badly by the State and the Garda as the Ludlow family. That was acknowledged during the public hearings. Apologies were proffered to the family from two former Garda Commissioners, Pat Byrne and Noel Conroy, for the unconscionable failure to follow up a vital lead in the Garda investigation when the names of four suspects were made available to it. They also apologised for the failure to inform the family of the date of the inquest and for allowing the inquest to proceed in the absence of any family member. They also received apologies on those two aspects of the case from the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, now Senator Michael McDowell. Despite the apologies, successive Governments have refused to implement the recommended commissions of investigation, one to deal with the Garda investigation and the suspects and the other to examine the availability and location of documents.

Recommendation No. 10 is that Dr. Leahy recommends that the Irish Government should consider reappointing a victims' commissioner for the Republic of Ireland. We believe that would be a very positive move, as it would provide victims with an opportunity to discuss all issues of concern with a dedicated person who would, in turn, be in a position to liaise with the appropriate Departments on their behalf.

In recommendation No. 14, Dr. Leahy states that private discussions between victims and survivors with members of the Irish State should continue to be organised and facilitated by peace and reconciliation organisations. We would add human rights organisations to that recommendation.