Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I am sharing time with Deputy Seán Kenny.

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak on this very important issue.

I welcome members of Justice for the Forgotten, who are in the Visitors Gallery again this evening and pay tribute to their long and arduous campaign seeking justice in very difficult circumstances.

Yesterday Justice for the Forgotten marked the 37th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings with a wreath-laying ceremony in Talbot Street, the scene of the worst loyalist bombing in Ireland. The same day the Queen of England laid a wreath in the Garden of Remembrance to honour those Irish men and women who died in 1916, rebelling against the Crown. It was a unique moment.

The Good Friday Agreement and the growing relationship between Britain and Ireland makes now the ideal time to seek to close the page of grief and pain on the worst atrocities committed on the island of Ireland in recent times. It is time for the Government of the United Kingdom to agree to the repeated requests of this House as expressed today in the words of the Dáil motion "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 Judge Barron for the purpose of assessing said documents with the aim of assisting in the solution of those crimes".

I was the Labour Party spokesperson on justice and a member of the joint Oireachtas sub-committee which conducted the public hearings and drew up the reports on Judge Barron's investigations into the Dublin bombings of 1972 and 1973, the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974, the bombing of Kay's Tavern, Dundalk, in 1975 and the murder of Seamus Ludlow in 1976.

The testimony and witness of the surviving victims and relatives was the most poignant and compelling part of our deliberations. Few members of the sub-committee were left unmoved by the experience. The sense of loss and pain for their loved ones which they experienced 30 years and more after the tragic events was compounded by the insensitive way that many of them were treated by the agents and agencies of the State and by the total failure of this State and successive Governments to vindicate their rights as citizens under the Constitution. They were truly the forgotten victims.

I remember well the early days of the campaign by the appropriately named Justice for the Forgotten. They were treated with the gravest suspicion by the authorities and subjected to close attention and harsh treatment by the Special Branch. They, and those who supported them, were regarded as pariahs and even subversive. For many years the late Tony Gregory and myself were the only public representatives to support the campaign. Now there is full support among public representatives of every political hue in the Oireachtas. It is a rare expression of unanimity and it must be built on.

I welcome the fruitful meeting which took place last week between the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, and a delegation from Justice for the Forgotten. I welcome the commitment made in this House yesterday by the Taoiseach and reiterated by the Minister for Justice and Equality that the request for full disclosure of documents would be raised by the Taoiseach with the British Prime Minister, David Cameron.

Let us be under no illusion that access to the tens of thousands of documents, which were denied to Judge Barron, will be easy. They contain the most highly sensitive classified information relating to a dirty war which spilled over into the Republic with tragic results.

Last month when the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, raised the matter with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Patterson, he was told the British Government was not in a position to accede to the request to disclose the content of the files. Speaking on "Morning Ireland" today, the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, sounded more intent on raising difficulties than exploring ways forward. However, he did not close the door entirely to the relevant files being released by the British Government.

In its fourth and final report in 2007 the Joint Oireachtas sub-committee made its most damning finding. It stated:

The Sub-Committee is left in no doubt that collusion between the British security forces and terrorists was behind many if not all of the atrocities that are considered in this report. We are horrified that persons who were employed by the British administration to preserve peace and to protect people were engaged in the creation of violence and the butchering of innocent victims. The Sub-Committee is of the view that given that we are dealing with acts of international terrorism that were colluded in by the British Security Forces the British Government cannot legitimately refuse to co-operate with investigations and attempts to get to the truth.

This is indeed a damning finding and raises the most serious questions for the British Government.

In 2001 the Irish and British Governments, meeting at Weston Park, agreed to appoint the distinguished Canadian Judge Peter Cory to conduct an investigation into allegations of collusion by the security forces in six specific cases. These were the murders of solicitors Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson, the killing of Robert Hamill, Billy Wright and Lord Justice and Lady Gibson and Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan.

The judge had the power to direct witnesses to attend for interview and the power to compel the delivery of all relevant documentation. Having considered all the confidential documentation, the judge would report to the Government and recommend a public inquiry or other action as appropriate. In effect, the judge recommended a public inquiry into four of the six cases. The Irish Government responded positively and established an inquiry into the two killings which took place along the Border. The Smithwick tribunal of inquiry into the killing of two RUC officers, Breen and Buchanan, is in situ at present.

Indeed when the sub-committee was making its final deliberations, members held a conference call with Judge Cory who explained his role under the Weston Park agreement and indicated his willingness to carry out a similar role if requested by the Irish and British Governments in regard to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. There is clearly a model for moving forward and dealing with the undisclosed files.

The second part of the motion requests that the Barron report and the text of the Dáil resolution be communicated to the British House of Commons for consideration. It is important that the House of Commons is asked to consider and debate the atrocities which were carried out in the Republic in the 1970s. Three years ago the Barron reports were forwarded to the House of Commons but were never debated there. Many of the British Members of Parliament adopted a hostile and negative attitude to the request and were dismissive of the Barron findings despite the fact the motion had been passed unanimously and referred by the Dáil to the House of Commons.

Nevertheless, the findings raise serious questions for the British Government if the British forces in Northern Ireland were engaged in cross-Border acts of aggression, culminating in bombings, shootings and killings, against a friendly country. These issues cannot be ignored.

Yesterday in the Dáil, the leader of Sinn Féin, Deputy Gerry Adams, stated that he was prepared to engage in a truth and reconciliation process in regard to the Northern Ireland conflict if an independent and international truth commission was established. This statement is to be welcomed.

The Queen's visit to the Republic of Ireland may at last be the catalyst for bringing about closure to the most recent phase of the tragic history of our two islands allowing all of the people to move on but the Irish and British Governments must act on it.

See this speech in context