Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I thank the Tánaiste for his response and I hope he can continue to help the families. I appreciate that he has met the families and is pushing the issue. Why does the Tánaiste believe the British Government does not want to release these documents particularly in light of developments such as the British Prime Minister apologising for Bloody Sunday and the positive reaction on the island of Ireland to that statement? Many people are very concerned and have suspicions on it.

Is the Tánaiste aware that one of the reasons Justice for the Forgotten is €17,000 short is that Dublin, because of its location, is outside the geographical remit of the special EU programmes body and is therefore excluded? The families have asked me to ask the Tánaiste to seek to resolve this technical problem as there should never be a hierarchy of victims on the basis of their locations. When investigating the €17,000 for this group, the Tánaiste could also examine examples of waste of taxpayers' money including €145,000 being spent on storing e-voting machines and €500,000 the OPW is paying on renting empty offices. I urge the Tánaiste to support Justice for the Forgotten and try to find the €17,000 to support its Dublin office. As they have suffered enough injustice, let us do something to resolve this issue which is small financially but is big for the families.

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