Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Each speaker in this debate has referred to the need to deal with the legacy of the past. Last Sunday in my constituency in County Monaghan a mass was celebrated for the late Columba McVeigh, a young man who was taken away and brutally murdered by thugs, criminals and murderers masquerading as republicans. That mass was celebrated by Fr. Sean Nolan in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Carrickroe to mark what would have been Columba McVeigh's 60th birthday last month. His late mother, Vera, along with all his family members and friends, campaigned tirelessly to have her son's remains recovered. She wanted a Christian burial for her son before she passed on to heaven herself. Sadly, and to this day, Columba McVeigh's remains have not been found. He is one of the people we refer to as "the disappeared". Apart from the McVeigh family, three other families have loved ones in that grouping we refer to as "the disappeared". They are Joe Lynskey, Seamus Ruddy and Robert Nairac. Their bodies have not been recovered.

Due to the good work of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains, 12 bodies have been recovered. It is important to record in this House the extremely good and important work that commission has undertaken since it was established following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. The first commissioner to serve here was my former constituency colleague and friend, the late John Wilson, who also served as Tánaiste. The people who have held that role since on both sides of the Border have done exceptionally good work in extremely difficult circumstances.

I again raise the issue this evening that we, as a Parliament, should appeal to people who have a scintilla of information or knowledge about the murder and burial of those four people, whose remains have not yet been recovered, to come forward to the relevant authorities and provide that information. Every day that passes makes it more difficult to recover those bodies. We cannot imagine, under any circumstances, the terrible grief and suffering those families go through when they have not had the opportunity to give their loved ones a Christian burial or when they cannot go to a grave to lay a flower or say a prayer. We must never forget those families and those people who were brutally murdered.

It is important in debates such as this that we also appeal to statutory authorities or governments to provide information that can help to lead to the prosecution of those people responsible for horrendous murder and violence. I have had the opportunity to raise with the Minister, as I had with the Secretory of State, Theresa Villiers, and with the British Labour Party's spokesperson on Northern Ireland, the absolute need for the British Government to respond positively to the unanimous requests of this House, made both in 2008 and 2011, in regard to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. This House passed motions unanimously on both occasions asking the British Government to give an eminent international legal person access to the relevant files and papers relating to those terrible atrocities.

Again, I reiterate that call this evening. There were many awful days of tragedy on our island during the period known as the Troubles. That day in May 1974 represented the greatest loss of life on this island due directly to the Troubles. That loss of life occurred in our capital city, Dublin, and in Monaghan town in my constituency. That day was, in effect, a mass murder of innocent people. There is a very good reason the British Government has a moral and political obligation to give access to the files and papers relating to those murders. There is very good evidence available, as referred to by the late Mr. Justice Barron in his report for the Oireachtas sometime ago, as to where the trail leads and that there was collusion by British state forces with the people who carried out those murders. I know the Minister has raised this matter successively with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the British Foreign Secretary. We need to keep it very much on the agenda. People need to know the truth. When the families of the victims of those particular atrocities speak to me or to other public representatives, or when they talk openly about their great loss and the grief they continue to suffer, they say the least they need to know is the truth. The same goes for the Belturbet bombing of 1972 in my home area in County Cavan. It is important when dealing with the legacy of the past that we deal with all these particular issues.

The recent report by the Police Service of Northern Ireland and MI5 on paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland contained serious findings which have profound repercussions for the island. The report stated:

All the main paramilitary groups operating during the period of the Troubles remain in existence: this includes the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Red Hand Commando (RHC), Ulster Defence Association (UDA), Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).

It is absolutely horrendous these paramilitary groups remain in existence on our island 17 years after the endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement by the overwhelming majority of the people on all of this island. Paramilitarism in any community, and from whatever source, can no longer be ignored or indulged. Paramilitarism manipulating and controlling political parties is nothing short of a direct threat to our democracy. It is imperative we renew and revitalise the hope and energy of the Good Friday Agreement. We are all aware of the major effort made by various Governments, organisations and parties to bring the Agreement about.

Through parliamentary questions and other debates in the House, we have highlighted the need for additional resources for An Garda Síochána to confront criminality in the Border region. In particular, I reiterate my calls for a cross-Border agency to get to grips with the challenge. Last March, I introduced legislation in the House proposing the establishment of a cross-Border agency, the remit of which would be to deal with this criminality. I welcome the Minister’s statement in the print media yesterday in which he outlined the establishment of such an agency would be part of the talks process. This commitment needs to be backed up by real action. The Dáil will debate my legislation on the establishment of such an agency on 27 November which I hope the Government will support. It will present the Minister with an opportunity to back up his statements on the negotiations under way in Stormont with real action. If my legislation requires amendment or improvement, I will be willing to engage on that.

The PSNI and MI5 report on paramilitary activity painted a bleak picture of members of the Provisional IRA engaged in criminal activity. It also highlighted the criminality of other paramilitary organisations. The Border region is bearing the brunt of this through illegal cigarette smuggling and fuel laundering. The latter activity can have serious environmental impacts. Sadly, in past three years in the Border area in County Louth, we have had the deaths of two members of an Garda Síochána while on duty.

The Bill put forward by Fianna Fáil proposes the establishment of a cross-Border agency that will build on existing links between statutory agencies, both North and South. It would enable authorities on both sides of the Border, including environmental bodies, to target and eliminate organised criminality. It is vital the Minister gives the commitment to such an agency as a core part of any agreement from the current talks, which I hope the five parties and both Governments will bring to a successful conclusion shortly.

It is important we work to ensure we realise the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement. Many people on this island put a major effort into bringing about the Agreement. Those of us who were privileged to campaign for its acceptance by the people in May 1998 were overjoyed that, in this State alone, more than 94% of those who voted endorsed it. That was a significant figure. Similarly, well in excess of 70% of those who voted in Northern Ireland endorsed the Agreement.

As I said earlier today during Question Time, the mandate all of us have as public representatives is to ensure we work to implement the Good Friday Agreement, along with the subsequent agreements, including the Stormont House Agreement. I hope everyone participating in the talks will be able to deal with the outstanding issues to ensure Northern Ireland can advance so we can have the real cross-Border and all-Ireland economic development we need to create jobs and a better society for our people. This will also ensure many pockets of deprivation and poverty will be eliminated and dramatically reduced, particularly in areas in Northern Ireland. Different groups come to the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement to outline the particular challenges they have in areas of particular disadvantage. That is what the electorate wants us to be talking about. The legacy issues, the paramilitary activity and the criminality have to be dealt with and rooted out of our society once and for all.

See this speech in context