Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Make a decision once and for all. We are tormenting everybody here. I cannot believe the group has that level of backing. I can see the point about the historical side of it and that Kilmainham Gaol is possibly consecrated ground now in any event, but, on the other side, if we want to complicate it even more, we could examine whether there is a possibility of a State funeral or other State recognition. Whether it is the Department of public expenditure or the OPW that is making an excuse, they have not told the Minister because they want it to go away, so all they do is overcomplicate it.

Given that we are the recipients of the petition, if we can move it forward, that is our job, just as it was in the case of the previous petition, whereby we can only do so much. We should do what we have agreed on the recommendations and wait for those responses. I take it the responses will be filled with crosswords without clues, so we will not be able to get the answer. We should then call in the representatives and ask them straight out what is so complicated about excavation.

We could go back to Stagg a long time ago, when his body was covered in concrete and they still took him out. Let us call a spade a spade. I am always a straight talker, but I cannot understand this. These people are so passionate about doing the right thing, yet the powers that be are trying to prevent them. In a democracy, whether it is the Twenty-six Counties or the Thirty-two counties, if all those county councils and everybody else is backing them, we are duty bound to back them as well.