Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Regarding the Ludlow report, the Government wishes to publish the report to the greatest extent possible in the form it was received from Mr. Justice Barron. We will consider the report and any necessary redactions based on right to life considerations very shortly. We will publish the report as fully as possible.

The Oireachtas committee recommended that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Reform consider extending the terms of the order establishing the commission of investigation to include other aspects, and these recommendations remain under active consideration. The committee indicated that we should examine the bombings in 1972 and 1973, the Clones file and the Crinnion, Wyman, Littlejohn brothers cases. These questions will be examined.

I am grateful to the Oireachtas committee for the opportunity afforded to the relatives of the victims of the bombings to tell their stories and put forward their views. I also welcome the recent inquest into the deaths of the victims of 1972 and 1973 bombings. I welcome the coroner's report, which is currently being prepared and will be forwarded to my office when completed. The committee made a number of recommendations relating to victims which require consideration. It is clear from the testament of relatives who appeared before the committee that the response by the State at the time fell far short of what was required. This was not disputed by anyone who appeared before the committee, and I do not dispute that. However, we have made considerable progress in addressing the needs of victims, North and South, through the memorial fund in Northern Ireland and the remembrance fund commission.

The concept of a committee of investigation is a different system of dealing with inquiries. It is outlined in the legislation which we passed. The workings of it are best left to Mr. MacEntee. Obviously if he asks that he extend or examine the terms of reference, I will accept that. I followed the system right through and I will continue to do that. This is one of the first times we have used this system and if Mr. MacEntee has a view regarding the terms of reference I will not argue with that.

Regarding the question of collusion, we have raised this issue time and again with the British Government and we will continue to do so. However, I must be honest with Deputy Kenny and point out that I believe we will never be satisfied on this issue, but I guarantee him that I will continue to pursue it. The British position on this, both within its security and Government systems, and I am sure its legal system if we could ever get to it, is that it has maintained that it has made available the information that it has on the subject. The former Secretary of State, Mr. Paul Murphy, wrote to the Oireachtas committee to this effect. While I will continue to pursue this issue I honestly do not see us progressing any further on it. However, I will pursue it because it is as annoying to me as it to anyone else. The British system works perhaps on a different basis from how we work.

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