Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Taoiseach said that he received the dossier in September. I have a copy of the letter, dated 6 July 2006, that accompanied the dossier. While I do not seek to make an issue of it, this dossier was compiled in the first half of the year and submitted on 6 July, but the families still do not have a reply.

I am trying to tease out what kind of inquiry the Taoiseach envisages. When will the terms of reference, which have been promised to the lawyers for the group in question but have not materialised, be made available? I do not wish to create expectations that cannot deliver some comfort to the relatives of the victims. I do not know the judgment on the dossier submitted.

However, some of the people concerned believe the Taoiseach has committed in principle to an inquiry. I am trying to find out what kind of inquiry. This time last year I suggested appointing a senior judicial person or a senior counsel to review the papers, the tribunal report and the forensic knowledge about fires now available. That person should have technical international expertise available to him or her in preparing a report for the Minister concerned.

People will camp out tonight who have suffered for very many years in the belief that they did not receive justice at the time. What does "independent and external investigation" mean? When will the Department deliver the terms of reference of the proposed independent external investigation to the lawyers acting on behalf of the relatives of the 48 young people who lost their lives in this tragedy in 1981?

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