Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Almost two years ago following the discovery of new evidence and my raising of the issue in the Chamber, the Government agreed to take the case of the hooded men back to the European Court of Human Rights. That was the right decision. The 14 men involved had been tortured for seven days by the British army and the RUC special branch using brutal, in-depth interrogation techniques. The two organisations had lied about it over and over again. They had also claimed that they had banned the use of the five techniques in question in 1972 and, in 1978, pledged to the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe that they would not use them elsewhere, but that also was a lie, as the techniques were used by the British army in Iraq. The Government's decision to defend the rights of citizens and challenge the use of torture was the right one. The deadline for it to make its submission to the European Court of Human Rights is next Tuesday. Will the Taoiseach confirm that it will meet the deadline? Will the Government provide the men concerned and their legal representatives with a copy of the submission? Will the Government publish it?

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