Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his comments. I have actually been ready for some time to meet the Ballymurphy families. It is welcome that the coroner has reversed the decision to suspend the investigations into the killings. First, we needed to decide whether the meeting should be held in Dublin or the North. It will be held here and I understand the Ballymurphy families are anxious to have another meeting with officials before my meeting with them. I am ready to adjust my schedule to accommodate this.

Regarding the allegation to which the Deputy referred by the late P. J. McCrory who warned one of my predecessors that the lives of Nationalist solicitors were in danger at the time, there is an extensive search of the archived files, but as yet nothing has come to light. There was also a detailed search carried out in my Department. In 1989 the Irish ambassador to London and the senior officials at the secretariat in Maryfield in Belfast dealt directly with the Cabinet Office and the Northern Ireland Office. They would have relayed concerns to the British Government at the time if they had been requested to do so. The Deputy is quite right that 24 years is a long time and memories of the sequence of events around the time of the killing of the late Pat Finucane in 1989 may not be fully reliable, given the intensity of the conflict and activity in Northern Ireland during that awful period. I can give the Deputy a further letter beyond the acknowledgment of what has transpired both in the search of the archives and my Department.

Regarding the Bloody Sunday comparison, we all know there are many groups and victims in the conflict who believe they have not had a fair hearing or justice for the murder of their loved ones and family members. I do not believe in a hierarchy of victims. However, I have often said that if people have information - no more than what the Deputy now says - they should bring it to the attention of the PSNI. I would have thought that if there was still outstanding information in respect of the Smithwick tribunal, established to examine the murders of the RUC officers, Breen and Buchanan, it would be forthcoming also. If there was any information of value in the trawl of the archives and the Taoiseach's Department, it would have been brought to the Deputy's attention. I will bring him up to date on what has been examined.

See this speech in context