Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. I want to make the point that time needs to be dedicated to all of these matters on a regular basis. I look forward to that.

I am probably the only Deputy in the House who was involved in the Haass talks. I spent the Christmas break, apart from Christmas Day, engaged in that process. I want to take issue with what Deputy Higgins said. Sinn Féin is vigorously opposed to many aspects of US foreign policy, including the awful adventures associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have to say that Dr. Haass and Professor O'Sullivan did a good job. They brought forward proposals which reflected what all of the parties had said during the discussions. It is crucially important that the Government is robust and clear on the need for all of those proposals to be implemented in full. They are not up for renegotiation. My view is that the Government here should encourage the parties in the North. Of course that should happen, but the Government's big challenge is to encourage the British Government, which does not want progressive change. The Unionist parties want to dilute, to protract, to delay and to diminish the potential for change. That will remain the case until the British Government gives them little or no option. This Government's job is to ensure the British Government faces its obligations. The British Government has been very qualified in its endorsement of the Haass proposals. I refer to statements made by the British Prime Minister in London and by the British Secretary of State. I welcome the remark by the Tánaiste on the Haass proposals, particularly his recognition of the urgent need for progress and his commitment that the issues involved should not be allowed to drift.

I would like to refer to some of the other issues the Taoiseach dealt with in his reply. The case of Pat Finucane has been outstanding for a very long time. The British Government has shown a brass neck in its refusal to fulfil the obligation it entered into with the Irish Government of the day as part of the Weston Park Agreement. The Taoiseach's meeting with the Ballymurphy families was a very good development. I thank him for meeting them. They have launched a new initiative, which seeks "the appointment of an independent panel to examine all documents relating to the context, circumstances and aftermath of the deaths of their loved ones". I want to make it clear that there is no dispute about the fact that these citizens were killed. There was no crossfire and no armed groups were active. They were killed by the Paratroop Regiment, which then went on into Derry and killed people on Bloody Sunday and then came back to Ballymurphy and into the Springhill Estate and killed more people there. They were under the direct responsibility of a man called Frank Kitson, who was the commander of the British army's 39th brigade. I raise this because he was also responsible for the counter-insurgency strategy, under which "counter gangs", as they were called, were actively recruited and directed by British armed forces.

Anne Cadwallader, who works for the Pat Finucane Centre, has just published a book, Lethal Allies, which is based on a forensic examination of all the RUC reports of the time. She has not found new evidence, as all of this evidence was in the public record and in police files. She has discovered that over a five-year period in the 1970s, state forces in the North - the British forces - killed 120 citizens. I have read the book, which is compelling reading. The figure I have mentioned includes those killed in this State - two people killed in a bomb attack in Dundalk and others killed in Dublin and Monaghan. I would like to think that the Taoiseach should meet this woman and listen to her case. Her book relates to a small region in the North and is confined to a five-year period. I ask Deputies to imagine what might be found if a similar investigation were to cover Belfast and other places. One of the reasons the British Government does not want to deal with the past is its involvement in killings such as this.

I offer those suggestions to the Taoiseach in a fraternal and positive way. Many people are hurting. The outstanding issues in the Good Friday Agreement include the rights of Irish language speakers - an issue with which the Taoiseach is very conversant - as well as cultural and identity issues and the legacy of the past. I would like to conclude by repeating a question I asked earlier. When was the last time an Irish Government forensically went through these matters with the British Government? It is worth pointing out, without being in any way superior about this, that the British Government might need to be educated on them. Mr. Cameron was not the Prime Minister when these events took place. He was probably at school. It did not happen on his watch. I put it to the Taoiseach that this Government has a responsibility to educate the British Government on these issues, to get it to engage on the basis of agreements that have been made by successive Governments and to look to the future on the basis of equality.

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