Mr. John Finucane:

I welcome the practical step the Chairman proposed. It will be interesting to see whether the commission will find benefit from it.

This meeting represents, as has been the case on many other occasions, an opportunity for the committee to speak with one voice, and I expect that to continue through the presentations and the responses to the submissions from the commission. I extend a warm welcome to the commission members and thank them for their presentations and answers thus far. On the work they have undertaken and continue to carry out, they and all those who have assisted them throughout this State need to be commended.

The issue of those who were abducted, shot and secretly buried by the IRA is a terrible legacy of the decades of conflict that we have come through. That is very clear. Sadly, it is not the first time it has happened in our history. As we know, there are still issues dating back to the Civil War and the Tan War. This generation of republicans identifies the wrong that was done and is trying to undo that wrong. We have heard some talk today about how information has been passed that has led to the recovery of most, but not all, of the missing. As a result of those efforts, 13 of the 16 people killed and buried by republicans have been recovered. For me, it will not be good enough until everyone is recovered. There are three who have still not been recovered: Robert Nairac, Joe Lynskey and Columba McVeigh. The failure thus far to find them is not due to any lack of resolve or co-operation by republicans. It is important that we use the committee and the stage we have today to appeal unambiguously to anyone with information, no matter how insignificant he or she feels it is, to make it available, as my colleague, Deputy Brendan Smith, outlined in his opening remarks. The information could be vital to the work of the commission. I urge people to bring it forward on the basis of confidentiality, as has been outlined in some detail.

Mrs. Flanagan referred to the work of WAVE in her statement. I echo the fact that the timing of today’s meeting probably could not be any better given what was, in my view, a very successful trip to Belfast. WAVE is headquartered in my constituency, North Belfast. The very powerful testimonies we heard from the Ballymurphy and Springhill families, particularly those we met at WAVE last week, add to the resolve of every member of this committee to do all that can be done collectively and individually to urge people to come forward and end the pain of Oliver McVeigh, which we noted last week, and the pain other families are going through.

Again, I commend the work of the commission and look forward to hearing the rest of the presentations, submissions and answers.