Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Looking at Mr. MacEntee's third report, it depends on the end of May deadline, whether he has the information he expects by the end of March, and the two subsequent people who have been identified who it is expected will talk to the inquiry. I cannot be sure except that it may open up lines of inquiry, but Mr. MacEntee seems to believe that May would provide enough time. Obviously in these events if something else opens up, I would be open to being persuaded by him if he believes that can bring finality to it.

I say the same to Deputy Sargent as I said to Deputy Kenny. The Attorney General's view is that the time limitation of bringing a case to Europe on this would not work. There are many precedents for that, not least the Justice for the Forgotten case. He has not ruled out that when we come to the completion of this work and see all the reports going through the committee, including Mr. MacEntee's report, it may not give up new opportunities. He has not come down on any specific one, as I understand it, but he is keeping his options open where he may be able to frame subsequent cases. It might be difficult but he certainly does not want to rule that out in the future.

I followed up on the issue Deputy Sargent raised in the House in January. If he recalls, he suggested running an advertisement campaign, which we did in the national and local newspapers. That generated many inquiries. We also highlighted the matter in Civil Service offices which generated more interest. I do not know the exact number of cases or if they are processed but it did generate a range of activity. It was a worthwhile exercise.

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