Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

In his reply to Deputy Kenny, the Taoiseach referred to these as "ongoing matters". This is 2008 and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings occurred on 17 May 1974. Some 34 years later for many of the survivors and bereaved of that day's terrible events in this city and in my home town, time has marched on significantly. For many of those directly caught up and their immediate families, the ageing reality and very much an ongoing concern is that they will never see the full truth and justice established.

Will the Taoiseach request the British Government, through the mechanism laid down in the Weston Park agreement, to allow an independent internationally recognised and respected judicial figure to have access to the documentation held by the British Government and all its varying arms in order to further establish what factual information is held by the British Government in all its various guises, documentation and information that clearly was withheld from Mr. Justice Hamilton, Mr. Justice Barron et al, including Mr. Patrick MacEntee? With time marching on, does the Taoiseach accept that as many of the bereaved families feel a great urgency that only through concerted effort by the Government and the collective weight of all represented opinion in this House working together — that is the approach we are taking, which I commend — we should seek the co-operation of the British Prime Minister to ensure such a process is put in train?

I have put this question to the Taoiseach's predecessor on a number of occasions.Given the great concern and the importance of the issue, would the Taoiseach consider approaching the British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, on the basis of a specific Taoiseach to Prime Minister summit that would address all these long outstanding issues, referred to as acts of collusion by the British state and its agencies in carrying out a series of atrocities on this side of the Border over those years?

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