Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

On the report of Mr. MacEntee SC, I agree with Deputy Rabbitte. The quicker we can clear the report for publication, the better. However, I must go through those statutory procedures. With the report of a committee of investigation, I need not go through the select committee. On the Barron reports, I had to go through the Select Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights. The Government can clear the report of a committee of investigation for publication.

On the O'Loan report on the McCord case, and for that matter a number of the other cases although Deputy Rabbitte's question was mainly on Raymond McCord senior, I agree with Deputy Rabbitte and I applaud Mr. McCord's single-minded determination and courage which helped ensure that the truth would be told about the grievous failures brought to light in a comprehensive and detailed way. As Deputy Rabbitte correctly noted, I stated justice should be done and seen to be done in these cases. It is a damning report and follow-up action is required on the part of the British Government. We have highlighted in our meeting of 30 January the areas in which we believe follow-up action is required.

The difference between the Raymond McCord case, with which the Deputy is very familiar from his involvement in it, and the others is that it is recent. In many of the others we were dealing with past events, although, as I have said to relatives time out of number, I do not say that is an excuse for not following up issues. The historical enquiries team is doing this. The difference is that the McCord case is much more recent and the people concerned are still in the system. The O'Loan report highlights the cases in question and the specific issues and people involved. Some of those concerned have since retired but many remain in the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Like Nuala O'Loan, we have urged that follow up action be taken in respect of these individuals. I know this is happening both within the Northern Ireland Office and the British system. We will have to wait and see whether there will be prosecutions but the report demonstrates there is clear evidence that the RUC colluded with loyalist murderers and failed in its duty to prevent horrific crimes. Obviously, the position of the Government and everybody who has looked at this matter is that the British Government has to follow up the issues involved. It has a clear report which resulted from an investigation of its records and files and the issues raised with Nuala O'Loan. We now have and see what action it will take.

The taking of prosecutions is one part of the matter. The other is that, while there have been huge reforms in the system under the Patten report, as I acknowledged in my earlier reply, Nuala O'Loan has also highlighted many areas where appropriate action on accountability measures remains to be taken in order to prevent any of these events recurring. I have spoken directly to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mr. Peter Hain, about these issues, as has the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and when I met him a few weeks ago, we went through them again.

I have raised with the Prime Minister what many of the families have asked for. The views of the families vary. Some want to legally pursue these issues but many others do not want to embark on a legal process. They want a clear apology from the British Government and are not interested in continuing forever. They know what happened and are not surprised because they always believed there was collusion. We have pursued this issue with the Prime Minister and have gone through a number of ways by which we think the interests and wishes of the families can be met. I hope he will deal with some of the issues raised in the coming weeks. He is mindful of the need to deal with them and has been devoting a degree of effort to them. The difficulty is that an apology of this nature will not satisfy all of the families; some will not accept it, while others want to follow their own route. However, it would satisfy many of them.

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