Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Chathaoirligh. Tá fáilte roimh gach éinne go dtí an cruinniú anseo. I extend a special welcome to all of the witnesses. We greatly appreciate their attendance.

I have followed this campaign for the past two decades. I am still absolutely dumbfounded that it has taken 50 years for justice to be recognised by the State in the North of Ireland. There was an incredible injustice done to the victims on those three days. That injustice was compounded by the defamation of their good names and compounded again by a 50-year wait for the truth. Many people, when they look back on certain elements of the Troubles, view them as only existing in the past but this campaign shows that that injustice actually exists right up until now, which is an incredible thing.

I welcome the fact that the full political spectrum here has given such support to the families of the Ballymurphy massacre. As has been mentioned before, there are many other groups of people in the North of Ireland who have been murdered, their families have been murdered, they have been absolutely wronged and they still seek justice; I am thinking of Kelly's Bar and Springhill. The victims and their families of the Glenanne Gang where 120 people were murdered by elements and agents of the British state in a small location in the North of Ireland. The father of an Aontú councillor, in Dungannon, was murdered in front of her when she was four yeas old. Recently, she received death threats from the murderer of her father in the name of the East Tyrone brigade of the UVF. For many people this injustice resonates strongly in their lives today.

One of the biggest tributes that maybe the southern political establishment can make to the Ballymurphy families would be to make sure that no other campaign walks a lonely journey to justice in future. We must ensure that all of those who seek justice now have the full energy of the southern State to make sure that they achieve justice for their families. I would like to hear the voices of the witnesses on that matter.

It is important to say that it was the action of a rogue state when the British army murdered citizens in Ballymurphy.

The withholding of justice from families is the action of a rogue state. The breaking of international agreements, such as the Stormont House Agreement, is the action of a rogue state. That needs to be called out. I propose that this committee take legal advice regarding what actions the Irish State can take to ensure that the British Government fulfils its responsibilities to the international agreements it has signed with the Irish State and with the parties in the North of Ireland. The Irish State should use all the legal levers it has in the context of international law to ensure that the pathway to justice is achievable and not blocked for, or withheld from, any family in the North of Ireland and that agreements are not reneged upon.