Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak this afternoon on this important all-party motion. In particular, I welcome to Leinster House representatives from the Ballymurphy Massacre Campaign and representatives of the relatives of the victims of the McGurk's Bar bombing. They have campaigned for many decades to finally see justice for the deaths of their parents, siblings, friends and pastors. While today is by no means the end of their campaign, it is a significant landmark on the journey.

My party has supported the Ballymurphy families over recent years. When he was Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore met the families and expressed his support for an inquiry, both as a member of the Government and as leader of the Labour Party. Some 18 months ago, a Labour Party delegation, comprising the Ministers of State, Deputies Ó Ríordáin and Nash, and Deputies Dowds and Wall, met the families in west Belfast. They listened to the families' stories, and heard the descriptions of what took place over a number of days in 1971, the trauma and suffering that the families have endured since, and the wholly inadequate official investigations that took place subsequently. At the time, my colleagues vowed to keep their campaign on the political agenda, to support the families' call for a Hillsborough-style independent panel inquiry, and to build wider consensus across the Oireachtas. This work has contributed to where we are today and I am proud and pleased the Labour Party has played a role in doing so.

It is hard for us today to consider the atmosphere in Belfast at the time that these events took place. That year, 1971, was one of the worst years of the Troubles. The year was characterised by a major upsurge in loyalist and republican violence. The then Northern Ireland Prime Minister, Mr. James Chichester-Clarke, was forced to resign as a result. The IRA campaign accelerated, and the Ulster Defence Association also mobilised. Yet, the year will be probably, and most tragically, remembered for the introduction of the policy of internment without trial by the British Government. This latter event, subsequently described by the then British Home Secretary, Mr. Reginald Maudling as “an unmitigated disaster which has left an indelible mark on the history of Northern Ireland”, was the backdrop for the shooting of 11 Catholic civilians by members of the parachute regiment in Ballymurphy, west Belfast, that August.

Internment was one of the most disastrous policy responses by the British Government to the escalating conflict in Northern Ireland. It was a blunt instrument, aimed exclusively at militant republicans and not at loyalist paramilitary groups. It was an outdated and in many ways nostalgic response to republican activity, harking back to the Border campaign of the 1950s. Rather than contain an IRA that had increasingly gone on the offensive, it used out-of-date intelligence to round up swathes of sympathisers alongside a number of leading people in the republican movement. In short, it left a bitter and lasting hostile legacy among the nationalist and Catholic population.

The Ballymurphy killings were part of the immediate aftermath of the introduction of internment. As violence flared in republican areas, gun battles broke-out between members of the IRA and the British Army. In the midst of this chaos, 11 people were shot by the British Army in Ballymurphy. From the personal history, we know they included teenagers, housewives, people who worked in bars and labourers - a wide cross-section of people.

Just as there was little or no doubt regarding the culpability of the parachute regiment for the deaths of innocent civilians during Bloody Sunday in Derry less than six months later, so too was that regiment clearly responsible for these murders. The pain that the families had to endure following the loss of their family members was exacerbated by the inadequate inquests into their deaths that returned opened verdicts. As a result, the families embarked on a long campaign for justice. The Labour Party has stood with the families in their campaign. We have done so not for any partisan political reasons, but simply because we believe it is the right thing to do.

I acknowledge the work that has been done by other parties in this House to support the Ballymurphy families. I would also like to acknowledge the work done by other public representatives to support them.

I am glad that we are joined today in the Visitors Gallery by Alex and Tim Attwood of the SDLP who have stood with the families over many years and who introduced members of the campaign to the Labour Party and facilitated our meetings, as did John Hume over the decades, when his health was better. So too Trevor Lunn of the Alliance Party who has consistently campaigned on their behalf. Together, their work with the Irish Government and all the parties here in Dáil Éireann has been crucial in reaching agreement on this all-party motion.

As Tánaiste, I give the Ballymurphy families my commitment that I will continue to press the British Government on the need for a new independent review panel to investigate these deaths. The formula for such an inquiry is already there. A Hillsborough-style inquiry would be short and cost-effective. While the Bloody Sunday Inquiry took many years to retrieve the truth about what happened during that terrible day in Derry, this inquiry would be more focussed and succinct. It is regrettable that the British Government has so far turned down such a process. In doing so, it helps to maintain and foment a sense of suspicion, rather than assist in the recovery of truth for those that deserve it most, the families. Indeed, while I once again acknowledge the British Government’s apology for the events of Bloody Sunday, it must not see that inquiry as an end in itself.

Throughout the peace process, the Irish Government has sought to fulfil all of its obligations and honour the commitments it has entered into. This applies to accounting for actions taken by authorities in this State. We took a leadership role in this area on publication of the Smithwick tribunal report two years ago. That concerned collusion by members of An Garda Síochána based in Dundalk and members of the IRA in the murder of two RUC officers in Armagh in 1989. On publication, the Government offered a sincere and fulsome apology to the Breen and Buchanan families on behalf of the Irish State. At the time my colleague, Deputy Gilmore, told the Dáil: "But where these allegations of collusion by agents of the state were concerned, we have long agreed that the state bears a particular and solemn responsibility". The families of the two men accepted it with grace and dignity.

This demonstrates that when those who were in any way involved in conflict face up to their responsibility, the healing and reconciliation process can be truly advanced. I recognise that full disclosure on the past may not be an achievable outcome but simply sweeping things away, or drawing a line under them, cannot provide the necessary healing. Too many issues surrounding the past in Northern Ireland require a form of resolution. The recent focus on issues of collusion is further evidence of that. It is for this reason that I have agreed to meet representatives of Relatives for Justice, along with the family of Eddie Fullerton, to discuss making further progress on their cases. The Irish Government also continues to support an inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane, and we serially raise this matter with our British counterparts.

Dealing with the legacy of the Troubles remains one of the most difficult issues for the entire community in Northern Ireland. However, it is also one of the most crucial. For many years since the Good Friday Agreement it has been one of the so-called "outstanding issues" that successive governments have sought to deal with. For its part, the Irish Government is fully committed to finding appropriate mechanisms to deal with the past. The basis of our approach has always been the Eames-Bradley report of 2010, which laid down the basic foundations for such a structure. We worked to have the basic architecture of Eames-Bradley contained in the Haass-O’Sullivan proposals that emerged from a series of negotiations between the political parties in the North 18 months ago. The Haass package formed the basis of what was agreed at the Stormont House negotiations that I participated in along with the Taoiseach, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Minister of State with responsibility for North-South co-operation, and the British Government, along with the Northern parties, last December. While Eames-Bradley continues to be the core reference point, I am concerned that at each stage of negotiations, and the further we get from the original, the proposals lose a little, or get slightly more diluted. I am aware that many people who were young children and teenagers at the time of these murders and who now have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren want to see the memory of their family members honoured and the truth of what happened emerge. To retain their integrity, and for the people in the North who have sought to have justice or even a basic level of investigation into what happened to their deceased loved ones, all parties must ensure that dealing with the past remains to the fore in political negotiations. Politics is always trying to achieve a settlement and to do so by negotiation.

Only through the work of the families and their determination to keep campaigning for the truth, and their perseverance, are we here today. Though their journey is not yet complete, they can rest assured that they have the support of this Government and my party, and all parties and Members in the Dáil along the way. Tá seanfhocal ann sa Ghaeilge: "Ní neart go cur le chéile" agus is fíor sin maidir le muintireacha agus clann Ballymurphy. There is a saying in Irish that we are not strong until we all come together. This process of the all-party motion is to bring the combined strength of the Dáil together and all the different histories and experiences we bring to this, and hopefully, to see the families achieve the resolution, the truth and the story that they deserve. They know but the rest of the world and this island needs to know.

See this speech in context