Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to say again that the contributions by Ms Peake and all our guests today have been powerful and compelling. There has been clarity in the manner in which they have outlined the terrible grief and suffering of families. I said at the outset that we should have a commemoration in Dublin, similar to that held by the families in Stormont each year, to try to keep a focus and create an awareness of this issue. It would also show that we stand with the families and abhor the fact that the families were shunned by some people in their communities over the years. As the Oireachtas, we should mark the events. Perhaps the committee secretariat could speak to Ms Peake about that in the future. I think we should do that publicly.

Senator McGahon said the Dáil had shown no interest in this matter over the years. For the sake of accuracy, I want to point out that I, for one, and I can only speak for myself, have raised this issue many times over the years. At my request, this committee met representatives of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains a number of times and I previously suggested that representatives of WAVE be invited before the committee. Some of us have raised the issue many times in the Dáil and will continue to do so.