Mr. John O'Hagan:

I appreciate the opportunity to engage with the committee. Unlike Mr. Quigley and Mr. Culbert, this is my first time in front of the committee. It is important that we reflect on what has been already said by Mr. Quigley and Mr. Culbert. I represent an ex-prisoner organisation in west Belfast known as Tar Isteach, which along with Coiste na nIarchimí, delivers a host of services. Not to regurgitate what Mr. Quigley or Mr. Culbert have touched on, but since coming into operation in 1985, Tar Isteach has dealt with thousands of republican ex-prisoners and family members.

I would like to return to some of the points made by Mr. Quigley with regard to the focus on political ex-prisoners and their importance in the development of the peace process. To be clear, the role of political ex-prisoners was fundamental not only to the development of the peace process but to the maintenance of it. We have maintained the peace from 1998 in a wide range of adverse situations. We have led in that charge. What we have seen from particularly-----