Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I want to record my welcome of the fact that the Taoiseach has met with the family of the late Councillor Eddie Fullerton. I pay tribute to the steadfastness of that family and recall that the late Eddie Fullerton's son, Albert, was tragically killed earlier this year. He had tirelessly campaigned for truth and justice in his father's memory.

Following on the Taoiseach's meeting with the Fullerton family, does he agree, having heard the family's representations and having apprised himself of all the critical detail available, that this murder raises disturbing questions? Does he agree that one of the most worrying aspects of it is the way in which the investigation of the death of Councillor Fullerton was conducted by gardaí in County Donegal? Is he aware that personal belongings of the late Councillor Fullerton, who he has just reminded us in his response was murdered in May 1991, have still not been returned to the family? Those belongings were taken from Councillor Fullerton's home. Fifteen years later, does the Taoiseach agree that is strange and that this and many other aspects of the Garda investigation of the time gave the Fullerton family the sense that it was they and their father who were under investigation and not those responsible for his murder who were being pursued?

Will the Taoiseach agree these are real and serious matters? Will he accept that the murder of Councillor Fullerton mirrored many of those investigated by Mr. Justice Barron and which have been exposed by the Oireachtas sub-committee in its most recent series of reports and follow-on to the work of Mr. Justice Barron, and the late Mr. Justice Hamilton preceding, demonstrating collusion between British Crown forces and loyalist paramilitaries?

Will the Taoiseach accept that the murder of Councillor Fullerton bears all the hallmarks of those who have carried out other such attacks and atrocities in this State over the years and that the form of its execution showed a sophistication and a training which presumably could only have been available to those who had been trained in such actions and very likely by the British Crown forces in the North?

Will the Taoiseach indicate his willingness to proceed to a full public inquiry, which is the request and the requirement of the family in their pursuit of truth and justice on the death of a husband and father? He was an Irish public representative, a member of Donegal County Council——

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