Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

The Taoiseach has promised a full debate on collusion. With the publication of the MacEntee report yesterday, it is clear Mr. MacEntee did not secure access to all the information he would have required to properly report on the matters referred to him, not least owing to the destruction — although I understand the word "cull" has been employed — of material held in Garda files and the absence of files which went missing from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the period since the tragic events of May 1974. This is a serious matter.

Mr. MacEntee's report, in a number of sections, says more in what is omitted than in what appears in the text. Mr. MacEntee clearly poses a number of serious questions to us. It is imperative that every effort is employed to establish the full and whole truth. This can only be aided through full address, in the House, of the issues concerned in the first instance. At least one full day should be given over to a debate on the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. The debate should accommodate the opportunity for Members to put questions. It should not be confined to a trundling out of statement after statement but must have in-depth engagement with the Tánaiste and Taoiseach representing the two critical ministries, the Department of the Taoiseach and Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

Against the background of——

See this speech in context