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

There has been powerful evidence and commentary. There are two minutes left in Fine Gael’s slot. May I just say one thing?

I feel profoundly that everybody wants the families to get closure. Perhaps through Ms Peake, we might invite members of Sinn Féin to meet with the families' group in an appropriate setting similar to the one in which we meet them. Would that be helpful? We need a plan that is constructive and engages. Even when this meeting is over, we might enumerate some of the actions we might carry out that would try to bring closure to the families. That is the key.

From a personal point of view, I had an uncle who was killed in the Second World War. I never even knew him. He was killed on the last day of the war and fought with the RAF and was shot down off Denmark after the ceasefire and his body was never found. That had a profound impact, particularly on my mother for all of her life. The only relief of pain that she could get was going to the Runnymede Memorial in London for the bodies of those who were never found and to put her hand on his name. That was a long time ago and is a memory from my own family. There are people alive of my age who were around in those times and I know from the republican movement in County Louth and in other counties who the members of this movement were. People know what happened and we cannot allow these people not to say what they know. I say this because I feel so strongly about it. Our hearts go out to these families because we know how they feel, forgetting the politics but thinking of the humanity of the situation.

I also mention Captain Robert Nairac who was, I believe, murdered in my own county. I do not agree with everything these people might have done but he was a human being, like everyone else, and is entitled to that decent burial and to that basic form of humanity which is the entitlement of everyone. No one can hide from that fact or should be allowed to continue to hide from it. My apologies for my emotion here.

I believe Claire Hanna and the Alliance Party are the next group to contribute.