Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I do not have an update on the work of the commission of investigation. I have heard nothing to indicate it will not be finished and I hope it will come in around this period of time. I have not heard of a problem with people assisting the commission but I do not have an update on its work. The Ludlow report will be published shortly and, hopefully, the Dundalk report and other related reports will be published before the end of the year.

The British authorities at all levels are very clear not only of my view and that of the Government, but also of the Opposition's views because this has been raised with them at several fora. They are well aware of the sense of the House and the country on this issue. They have not been enthusiastic by any means, to put it at its mildest, in moving to a Weston Park style tribunal. However, having sensed the view here of late, they have tried to pin down what precise information they might have that might assist us and we have engaged actively in this regard. I do not know whether anything will come of that but they have indicated they will try to deal with the information. We have been going through this process for a long time but they asked for the specific and detailed areas about which we wanted information. Prime Minister Blair reiterated that to me himself and said he would then raise it with MI5 and MI6 directly to try to get this information. That is encouraging but we have to wait to see whether he gets an encouraging response. The operation of their system is strange, although I have become quite expert on its operation. I will take the Prime Minister at his word anyway and we will try to see what we can do.

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