Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)

The Independent Members of the Technical Group have not been allowed to sign the motion because we are not members of a political party. However, I think Justice for the Forgotten knows it has our support.

I will begin with a quotation, "While these terrible events of 17 May, 1974 endure in the memory of many who witnessed them or were injured by them, I believe it would be invidious to single them out for special official commemoration." This was the response of the former Taoiseach, Mr. Albert Reynolds, to a question put by the late Independent Deputy Tony Gregory in June 1993, approaching the 20th anniversary of the bombings. In 2004, approaching the 30th anniversary, when speaking on the Barron report, Tony Gregory stated, "We owe it to the families and the memories of those who died to bring closure and finality once and for all to this issue." He called on the then Government to take the necessary steps to ensure this happened. He supported the group's preference to pursue an effective human rights investigation into the bombings. As Justice for the Forgotten is now calling on the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, to open the files, in 2004 the question was why the then British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, was not co-operating with the request made. Tony Gregory asked whether the reason was the single worst act of terrorism might have been perpetrated by agents of the British Government and carried out in collusion with members of the British security forces. He also noted the reluctance of the then Irish Government and the reticence of all the established political parties to pursue the issue. In 2011, three years from the 40th anniversary of the bombings, enough is enough. The relatives and victims are owed the truth. The Government and the House must lead the way by insisting on the files being handed over.

Yesterday I stood on Talbot Street and the grief of the relatives was very obvious, their grief compounded by the injustice of not knowing the truth. A headline in one of today's newspapers reads, "Queen honours those who died in the fight for Irish freedom". The innocent lives lost in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings will be honoured only when the truth is told.

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