Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mrs. Flanagan very much. I understand that Mr. Knupfer will be with us momentarily, as he is rebooting his computer. If he has not managed to do this yet we will commence our rotation of speakers, if that is in order, and we will bring Mr Knupfer in then when he is available, when the current contributor has finished.

I welcome the clarity which the presence of our witnesses is bringing to us here today. In the first instance, in that any information given to our witnesses will be kept completely in secret and cannot and never has been used in any court of law, or for any other purpose whatsoever, other than in finding the remains of the victims. I can understand, having met Mr. Oliver McVeigh recently in Belfast, along with our colleagues on the committee, how traumatic even after almost 40 years is that need for closure and demand for outcomes, as somebody out there must and does know what happened to those three men. It is very sad and tragic. The key point is that the conflict is over and there is no reason why anybody should fear giving information to the commission through the appropriate channels. I believe Mr. Knupfer is present now and I will invite his submission in a moment. The clarity that the commission is bringing to its search is very important. As people are ageing, this does not mean that there are not people who can still come forward where they are under no legal pressure, or there can be no negative outcome by way of prosecution, in respect of any information that they may give. There is also complete secrecy attached to such information. It behoves all of the political parties and none represented here today that we call on everybody who is aware of anybody who may have any information, no matter how small that information may seem to them, in respect of how important that may be to help bring closure to families who do not have the opportunity to give their loved ones a Christian burial. I invite Mr. Knupfer now to make his contribution, please.