Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Regarding the first question, Mr. Justice Barron presented his final report to me in February 2006, as stated in the March reply to parliamentary questions. The report was considered by the relevant Departments and officials reviewed the report and held a meeting with Mr. Justice Barron to discuss the issues that needed to be addressed before the matter was brought before the Government. This was some time ago. Following that meeting, Mr. Justice Barron felt that certain revisions to the structure of the report were required. He undertook to make these changes and present a revised version of the report to me. I stress to the House that these revisions related to the structure of the report only, they did not in any way change the findings of the report. The final report was considered by the Government this morning and it is intended to bring a motion before the House later this week to refer the report to the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights.

As with all these reports, what delayed issues, apart from restructuring and layout, was that the report covered quite a number of attacks. Mr. Justice Barron put an omnibus end to his report, which included not only Dundalk but also referred to other attacks by loyalist paramilitaries, for example, the Castleblayney bombs, the Dublin Airport bomb and other bombings in the State. It also included a number of attacks in Northern Ireland, on the Miami showband, the Rock Bar, Keady, Donnelly's Bar, Silver Birch, the Reavey and O'Dowd families in south Armagh and the murders of Seán Farmer and Colm McCartney. He also referred to the explosion and murder at Ballinrath Bridge in County Kildare. It is a fine report and includes many aspects that were not in the previous report. He has made structural changes.

The cause of much of the delay was that there were a number of names mentioned. Mr. Justice Barron has redacted a number of them, but not all. Subject to correction, there are approximately 15 names of people involved and these will be published in the final report. At least the report says they were involved.

On the MacEntee report, I understand the aspect about which Deputy Rabbitte inquired, the Garda investigations and the files on it, the investigative work is complete and I understand that Mr. MacEntee's recommendations are also complete. I have not seen them, but I understand he will make recommendations. To the best of my knowledge, I can confirm, from what I know from my officials who have been dealing with this, that the individual involved is of British intelligence, but I am not certain about his precise role. I understand that the investigative work of the commission is substantially complete, but some legal obligations must be fulfilled before the report is finalised.

To answer the Deputy's last question, I might receive a formal request for another extension, but I gather that will only be to complete the work beyond 31 July. We should have the report in the early autumn. I understand Mr. MacEntee wants to complete it and get on with other work. He wants to see it through in this session. In response to a question asked earlier, the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights suggested Mr. MacEntee should look at some other aspects of different work, but I understand he does not want to do that. He wants to finish this job that he undertook to do rather than become engaged in other issues. He feels this is his responsibility and wants to finish it before the holiday and report to us.

See this speech in context