Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In court in Belfast yesterday, campaigners against political policing won a full hearing into the failure to include Northern Ireland in the Pitchford inquiry into undercover policing in Britain. This comes after the Stormont Minister of Justice officially requested its inclusion. The German Government has written to the British Government seeking the inclusion of the actions of the so-called spy cops in Germany and the Scottish Government has done the same.

British undercover police officers were also operating in this State but yet the Irish Government has so far refused to request the inclusion of their activities in that investigation. Why is that? I presume the Taoiseach has heard of Mark Kennedy, who was exposed as a secret member of the national public order intelligence unit. He had multiple intimate relationships with women using his false identity as an environmental activist called Mark Stone.

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