Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is important that we reflect on what is important today. The report has just been published. It is important, in the first instance, that we think of the two families who lost a father and a husband. It is important that we think of those in the then RUC, now the PSNI, who lost colleagues. We should think also of the trauma that I have no doubt the report will cause among members of An Garda Síochána. We can be very proud in this country of the integrity, courage and service of An Garda Síochána. It will be very troubling for its members, as it is for me and other Members of this House, to find out from an official report that there was collusion between some individual members of the force and the IRA that led to the murder of two men in very savage circumstances. I cannot get out of my mind the image of one of those men who, when injured outside his car and waving his white handkerchief, was shot in the head by an IRA activist. That is what we are dealing with.

This is not a day for self-justification by anybody or any political party. It is not a day for muddying the waters, pulling the report apart or finding a flaw in it, nor is it a day for the writing or rewriting of history. Cibé sórt cogadh a bhí ann, ba coimhlint suarach, seitreach a bhí ann agus tá áthas orm go bhfuil deireadh leis. An gnó ba cheart a bheith idir lámha againn sa Teach seo ná féachaint ar aghaidh chuig an síochán agus na laethanta amach romhainn. We must reflect on this very serious report and consider what we need to do regarding the unfinished business at Weston Park. I want every Member to be assured the Government will continue to make every effort to ensure the Weston Park process and the agreements signed up to at Weston Park will be completed and fully complied with. If anything, the reports we now have will afford an opportunity to achieve this.

See this speech in context