Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

It is a dangerous precedent to equate the atrocities of 1916 and the early 1920s with those which took place 16 years ago. There is a quantum difference in the level of injustice that occurred on this island at those two different times. The Green Party welcomes the legislation to examine the IRA ambush of RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan. We are concerned, nonetheless, at the delay in setting up this tribunal which is aimed at investigating allegations of Garda collusion in the murder of two senior RUC officers 16 years ago. It was in 2003 that the Minister announced there was to be a public inquiry into allegations of Garda collusion surrounding the IRA murder of these two senior officers. We have waited two years for this motion to come before the House.

These men were shot dead on 20 March 1989 at an IRA checkpoint near Jonesborough, County Armagh, as they returned from a security meeting with the Garda Síochána in Dundalk. Under the terms of the Weston Park agreement of 2001, the Canadian judge, Peter Cory, was appointed to investigate allegations of collusion between British and Irish security forces and paramilitaries in six cases in Northern Ireland. Judge Cory recommended that an inquiry be held into the deaths of the two men. He said an investigation should be opened to inquire into allegations of Garda collusion into the deaths and, having examined the claims of gardaí based at the Dundalk station, he believed that information was passed on to the provisional IRA on the movements of the two RUC officers after the cross-Border security talks. He believed that this evidence, if accepted, could be found to constitute collusion. We welcome the tribunal and commend the work of Judge Cory, but why was there such a delay in establishing this tribunal when it was agreed at Weston Park in 2001 that the two Governments would implement his recommendations?

We should not look at this incident in isolation, we should look at atrocities on all sides. If we establish separate tribunals of investigation into each of the many atrocities that took place, we will become overburdened with bureaucracy and red tape. We should look at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission model, where a single tribunal looked at all atrocities, a clear and quick way of getting to the heart of the injustices and concerns experienced by all sides. Tribunals are costly and people are becoming cynical about their length and the expense involved.

This is, however, a step in the right direction and we support this proposal. There should be greater feedback to the Houses of the Oireachtas and we ask the Minister to incorporate a system of ongoing progress reports to the Houses.

Given the allegations made about the gardaí, we in the Green Party remain concerned about the level and quality of initial training of gardaí in Templemore and about ongoing in-service training. Concerns were expressed at the weekend that the Garda training college cannot handle the increase in Garda numbers. The allegations arising from this IRA ambush reflect badly on the Garda and demonstrate that there must be root and branch reform of the force. I am not convinced that the Minister's proposals will go to the heart of Garda training. We support this motion.

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