Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I find the Minister’s response incredible. She is Minister for Justice and Equality. In the neighbouring jurisdiction an investigation was carried out by the PSNI and, unfortunately, the case did not go to court. It is under independent review regarding the DPP’s role in it. As the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland is investigating the matters involved, there is an independent review mechanism, yet the Minister could not get in quickly enough to make a public statement where there was a political opportunity to cast a slur against my party. I will not read the requests from the many families who allege their loved ones, in the State for which the Minister is responsible, were murdered and that there were cover-ups in their cases and who want to meet the Minister but cannot do so. Where is the consistency in how the Minister makes decisions on families? How can she so clearly make a statement on one case in the North of Ireland but engage in no commentary on cases in the State for which she is responsible? The accusations levelled against her by the families and many others were of blatant political opportunism and inconsistency in her approach to victims alleging the commission of the most heinous crime of murder in the State.

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