Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy has given us an account of the report and his questions can be answered in the affirmative. The Government set up the Barron inquiry to get to the facts and ensure they were presented. The British Government is well aware of the contents of the two reports to date and will be aware of the contents of other reports.

On the second point, the best way is to try to get full co-operation from the British side. We have worked with Mr. Justice Barron and have received co-operation in many areas. In other areas we have not and the view of everyone concerned, including the Oireachtas committee and the Government, is to try to get the British Government to indicate willingness to deal with the issues without judicial involvement or legal proceedings.

I have answered Deputy Kenny's question on what happened in that regard. I am pessimistic because one follows the process without receiving the information for which one hoped. We are endeavouring to narrow it down and Mr. Blair has stated he will proceed with regard to MI5 and MI6. Let us see what happens.

While waiting for that I have asked for legal advice on the possibility of pursuing a case in the European Court of Justice. As stated in my reply, the Attorney General has also received advice on this issue. We are aware the European Court of Human Rights has rejected two complaints made by Justice for the Forgotten. A similar outcome has occurred in many other cases in other jurisdictions on the grounds of the length of time between events and proceedings.

I have not seen the Attorney General's advice yet but over the summer much work was done on constructing a case, the appropriate grounds on which to take a case, who would be joined in proceedings and issues of time. The Attorney General is to present a report on this. I would prefer if we received the data and would like to state that I am optimistic about that but I am not. We must keep trying and Mr. Blair has stated he will try again, which I accept. In the meantime we will try to formulate our case rather than wait.

Deputy Ó Caoláin asked if there is anywhere else to go. I do not think there is, the European Court of Justice is the only place where we can construct a case at this stage.

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