Dr. Thomas Leahy:

Deputy O'Sullivan makes an excellent and important point. Will we reach resolution through the Stormont House Agreement without the involvement of the British Government? The simple answer is "No". However, for some of the cases mentioned in recommendation 9 and issues that have come out of the Barron report, the McEntee report and the Smithwick Tribunal, the Government in this State can at least hold its head up and say that it has done as much as it can in fulfilling the obligations asked of it and moving the process forward. Importantly, that indirectly puts pressure on the British Government to acknowledge that some cases are not being resolved because it is not fully co-operating.

For this Government, there is the interest of public confidence in the State. If reforms, lessons and ideas are needed for the future, it is important right now for citizens in this State that they are implemented. Examples of that are some of the processes from the Barron report, which could be implemented without a thumbs up or thumbs down from the British Government. It is a public confidence issue.

If the British Government do not co-operate, it might not help UK and Irish relations at Government level, but the Irish Government must do the maximum that it can to help cross-Border communities. It might want to look at particular cases and release archival files to build trust with some of the Border Protestant and unionist communities. There is still opportunity for the Irish Government to move forward if the British Government does not co-operate, and to interact with people across these isles to show that it is trying its best to move things forward. It is in its gift to do so.

Deputy O'Sullivan made a point about ignorance, and that is clear from the UK media. However, this is where theme 4 and the recommendations are important. There is an appetite among people of all age groups in Wales, England and Scotland to know about what happened in the conflict. These issues can be raised in the UK media or with politicians and parties who are more engaged, of which there are many in Scotland, Wales and England. At some point, the UK Government will change. UK politics is in flux and to have contact with those who are raising these issues is very important in trying to put them to the forefront of the agenda. It is also important to raise public awareness in the UK. One example of this is the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. I know from teaching students that if there is an idea of what happened in the conflict, the stand-out attack is the Omagh bombing. There is no awareness that the greatest number of people to die on one day was in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. It is important to try to give a nuanced perspective of what has happened across these isles.

Deputy O'Sullivan talked about public confidence. On the one hand, the slightly depressing answer is that the British Government might not co-operate. However, there are ways of engaging with the UK public. At the moment, there is real interest in Irish affairs and relations between these isles because of Brexit. It might appear to be a difficulty, but I think that Brexit is an opportunity. The UK public and media are asking why the backstop is relevant and what the conflict was about. There is an opportunity to feed into that and explain about the legacy process.