Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I did not travel to London to raise deliberately that specific question, no more than I travelled to London to raise specifically the question of a reduction in the interest rate of the loan given by Britain, as some people seem to believe. I cannot put it more powerfully than Nuala Kerr in respect of the killing of her son on the importance of the conviction and the courage of young Catholic men and women who wish to join the PSNI and that his death should not prevent or hinder them or provide an obstacle to their so doing. I am aware of the conclusions of the Patten report in respect of the 50:50 arrangement. The Tánaiste referred to this in discussions with the Secretary of State yesterday and I have raised the matter previously on other occasions. We must be cognisant of this issue in the context of proper and effective policing and the way in which the PSNI has been able to deliver to date.

I had direct contact with a small number of the families who lost loved ones in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings on Friday 17 May 1974, when 33 civilians and an unborn child died and 258 people were injured as a consequence of the four explosions. We have had the report of the Barron commission of inquiry and the commission of investigation undertaken by Mr. Patrick McEntee. In July 2008, there was a unanimous all-party motion in respect of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, which urged the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to allow access by an independent international judicial figure to all original documents held by the British Government relating to the atrocities that occurred in this jurisdiction, and which were inquired into by Justice Barron, for the purposes of assessing said documents with the aim of assisting in the resolution of these crimes. In the context of these issues, I raised the matter yesterday and there is agreement that we should take all cases, which are all sensitive, personal and real, but we do not want a plethora of open ended investigations and tribunals and committees going on. Against that background, I referred specifically to the issue of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.

On the visit of the Queen, I told the Prime Minister that I had heard reports that there may well be some minor protests but I want to make clear that these are not by Justice for the Forgotten, which has confirmed to me that the group has no intention of protesting when the Queen visits.

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