Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes. Mr. Hazzard has already spoken, so many of the questions have been answered. I welcome the witnesses and thank him for their contribution this morning. From the start, the committee has taken a strategic and focused approach to the legacy Act and its implications. The Acting Chair will concur that while there are many things on which members of the committee from different parties do not agree, we have been rock solid in our absolute focus on this issue. We understand that any divisions in the Irish approach only serve to perpetuate the shutting down and closing off of things, as we heard. That has been the committee's position from the beginning.

The committee has met members of the British Government and the MPs who were the driving force behind the legacy legislation. We have done everything we possibly can, on a cross-party basis, to ensure they knew where we stood on the Act. We had hearings with Amnesty International and other human rights groups, as well as family and victim groups, to have a co-ordinated approach. The committee has, in no small way, informed the Irish Government's decision to take an interstate case.

The contribution of the witnesses is crucial, even at this stage with the deadline of 1 May looming. Members attended the Ballymurphy inquest and the Springhill Inquest to show our solidarity with the families involved. For me and many others who have lived in the South or in England all our lives, it was an eye-opener to see the lack of humanity shown in those cases and in the way families are treated across the board. No family should be treated differently from any other family. We will continue with that approach right up until we get a resolution here.

Mr. Hazzard spoke about the British Labour Party's approach and referred to Hilary Benn. I hope Mr. McCord has a meeting with Mr. Benn, whom the committee has met. We raised this issue with him and, as recently as late February, he reiterated that the Labour Party would replace the legacy Act with legislation that returns to the principles of the Stormont House Agreement. We will certainly hold the Labour Party to that.

One of the concerns I have is that the interstate case is likely to go on for three or four years. Have interim measures been identified that could be taken to help Mr. McCord's case and all the other cases?