Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táim fíor-bhuíoch don Leas-Cheann Comhairle as an seans a thabhairt dom labhairt ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo. Táim an-sásta go bhfuil an tAire, an Teachta Charlie Flanagan, anseo linn.

Monday's RTE documentary on collusion brought into sharp focus the shameful role of the British State, from its highest political level, in the planning, ordering and sanctioning of state murder on a massive scale, including against citizens in this State. Much of what it contained was not new. For citizens in the North, collusion has been part of the political landscape for decades. It took 30 years for RTE to make this programme. For many citizens here, it was the first real opportunity to see the reality of Britain's dirty war in Ireland. The policy of state-sponsored collusion between British State forces and unionist death squads was part and parcel of British policy.

Successive Irish Governments - any debate here should include this very important issue - failed to uphold the rights of hundreds of Irish citizens who were killed or the thousands more who were injured, imprisoned or tortured as a consequence of British policy. The most obvious examples of this are the 33 victims of the Dublin–Monaghan bombings and the human rights lawyer Pat Finucane. In this State also, there were the deaths of Councillor Eddie Fullerton, Jack Rooney and Hugh Watters - the latter two were killed in Dundalk - and Seamus Ludlow and many others.

Is it not long past time for the Government to make every effort to secure truth and justice for all the families? Will the Government commit to using its full political and diplomatic resources to demand from the British Government the long-denied files on the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and the establishment of the Pat Finucane inquiry. Furthermore, the two governments should proceed with the protocols and establish the bodies as agreed in the Stormont House agreement for dealing with legacy issues. Whatever difficulties exist currently in the institutions are the responsibility of both Governments. The Irish Government should not delay. That means the Irish Government taking leadership on this issue.

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