Mr. Paul Maskey:

I will lead on this issue because I am the Member of Parliament for Belfast West, the constituency where Ballymurphy is located. John Finucane will come in directly after me. As the MP for Belfast West, I thank the Minister. I know he has been meeting with the families. I was at the meeting he had with the families in Ballymurphy and when he walked the sites where some of the loved ones were killed. It was a very emotional day, and the Minister mentioned that. Every time the families have a meeting with anyone and tell their stories, it is obviously very emotional for them. We owe it to them to do whatever we can to make sure they get what they need. It took 50 years for the families to get to the truth. It was a momentous day when Mrs. Justice Keegan made her verdict known. I met the families directly after it and I could see in their faces a sense of relief that they had achieved the truth. Within hours, however, there was sadness for them because of the actions of the British Government and how it handled the matter. What it did was quite poor on its part. The families were very disappointed with that.

I have spoken to the families since then. One of their biggest concerns, if not the biggest, is that the Stormont House Agreement will not be implemented. A number of weeks ago, when Mrs. Justice Keegan gave her verdict, there was a sense of pride among the families, but that could be dashed. We must do whatever we can, including the Irish Government, to make sure the Stormont House Agreement is implemented in its entirety. We all must work towards that. My question for the Minister and others is: how do we ensure that the families are not disappointed again by the actions or lack of actions of others?

Eleven months after the Ballymurphy massacre, the Springhill-Westrock massacre occurred. I have met those families as well recently. I put a proposal to the committee that the members go to Ballymurphy to meet with the families again, and also meet with the Springhill massacre families. As the MP for west Belfast, I am putting that proposal to the Minister as well. I hope he can come up and meet the Ballymurphy families again and, when doing that, I hope he will also meet with the families of the victims of the Springhill-Westrock massacre in the heart of my constituency. That is an offer for the Minister and I hope he will agree to take it up. I believe it would be very important to both the Ballymurphy families and the Springhill-Westrock families.