Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Answering 19 questions together is not acceptable. The questions are quite different, ranging from Kingsmill to the Taoiseach's meetings with the British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron, and with Mr. Nick Clegg, and Northern Ireland issues. We need to look at this. We are not getting the detailed replies required. No one can cover the ambit of 19 questions. Sometimes a Deputy might ask five or six questions on the same topic, but some of today's questions are distinctly different and merit detailed consideration.

I am glad the Taoiseach met the relatives of victims of the Kingsmill massacre. I regard that day as one of the blackest in Northern Ireland. The report of the historical enquiries team, HET, is particularly revealing. It clearly says this was a purely sectarian attack. It was calculated slaughter by the Provisional IRA, although at the time there was a failure to admit it. The report also says the same weaponry used at Kingsmill was used in successive Provisional IRA attacks. Six other individuals were convicted in different circumstances using the same weapons to do different deeds. Of course, they cannot be implicated in what happened at Kingsmill. It does, however, indicate the culpability of the Provisional IRA at the time.

The Taoiseach mentioned dealing with the issues of the past. The coldly sectarian nature of this calculated slaughter of people because they were Protestants flies in the face of the civilised principles we espouse, in terms of uniting people of different traditions and backgrounds. Has the Taoiseach any sense from his sources of any movement by Sinn Féin or by republicans to account more honestly for what occurred on that day and to try to give a better degree of closure to the relatives than they have had to date?

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