Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will briefly join Deputy Smith in making a few comments. Anybody - either outside or inside the House - with any information or influence over those with information should use that information or influence. We and all right-thinking people are at one in our view that ending the suffering of the families who await the remains of loved ones must be a priority. The commission has had the support of the Irish and British Governments since its establishment and will continue to have that support. The officials in my Department who provide the secretariat function maintain almost daily contact with the commission and their counterparts in the Northern Ireland office. The commission's most recent operation was in search of the remains of Columba McVeigh at Bragan Bog in County Monaghan, and it concluded in September 2012, unfortunately without success. However, the commission remains ready to act on any credible new information or evidence it receives with regard to this or any other outstanding cases.

In concluding the debate on this issue, let me emphasise once again the fundamentally humanitarian intent of the two Governments in establishing and supporting the commission. We are all conscious of the social and religious importance attached to the rituals of proper burial of the dead. The families of the disappeared have been denied those rituals and our shared objective must be to address the humanitarian imperative of returning the remains of the victims to their families. No matter what his or her background, anybody who can assist in achieving that aim must do so. We will continue to do whatever we can to provide the commission with every support in its work.

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