Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

-----and citizens of this State were murdered, shot and blown up, including members of the Defence Forces, the Garda and the Army. As they were enemies of the State, I deplore absolutely every single death and have sympathy for the families of every victim, but I do not want anybody to run away with an assumption that this State was in formal collusion with the IRA, or killers associated with the IRA, who were using the opportunity as cover.

The Pat Finucane murder, in my view, was specifically in the context of the Cory recommendations, and the Cory recommendation was that there should be a public inquiry. When I was on the other side of the House in opposition, the House unanimously supported my motion in that regard, and we still support that. However, let nobody be under any illusions here. We are not going back to the old ways of the past. People should not, under any circumstances, assume that Governments of the past were in direct collusion when people were unfortunately wounded, maimed, killed, blown up or murdered in Northern Ireland, or that there was a State safe haven for them in the Twenty-six Counties.

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