Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also pay tribute to the families concerned. Anyone who has met the Smallhorne and Barrett families and Mr. O'Mahony knows that they are incredibly decent people who are trying to move on with their lives and seek justice. They have been campaigning on that basis for many years. For this reason we all owe it to them, the Defence Forces and the former colleagues of the two murdered soldiers to do everything we can to seek justice. That is what we are doing, but let me be clear, in that we have tried to provide as much information on the case as we can and we have requested that the case be taken seriously, which it is. We also closely monitored the case in the US that resulted in the deportation of Mr. Bazzi. Unfortunately, the Irish Government cannot take a case in Ireland. This is an issue for the Lebanese judicial system and Lebanese law. As such, we are interested observers who are being kept up to date on a regular basis, but we must let the law take its course.

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