Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I put question No. 11 to the Taoiseach before he went to meet the British Prime Minister and it is a direct question: to ask the Taoiseach if he will raise directly with the British Prime Minister the need for the British Government to accede to the unanimous request of Dáil Éireann in July 2008 for all files and other information in respect of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. From listening to his answer, I can only deduce that he did not put this directly to the British Prime Minister, that he did not raise directly a question I raised here previously about 50:50 recruitment in the PSNI or that he did not deal directly with the important question of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings.

The British Government has consciously and deliberately resisted the demands of the victims, the 34 people who were killed and others who were injured, for a long time. It is actively resisting the outpouring from this institution, this Parliament, from the commission of inquiry established by the Government and from the sub-committee which concluded that since we are dealing with acts of international terrorism in which the British security forces colluded, the British Government cannot legitimately refuse to co-operate with investigations or attempts to get to the truth.

I understand and appreciate the point made by the Taoiseach to the effect that there are many other victims of violence and conflict who are also looking for truth. Sinn Féin has put forward proposals about trying to get the truth which I would be pleased to discuss with anyone. However, in this case it is a direct issue. The Taoiseach met the British Prime Minister. He represents us, the people of this State and those who were victims on that day. Did the Taoiseach ask the question directly? If he did, will he inform us of the British Prime Minister's reply?

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