Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

As usual, I did not get the answer to the question asked. I have got used to not really expecting answers to really difficult questions. I believe, however, that the Minister may have given this issue some consideration. If he did not, he should have. He started his statement by referring to the rigorous selection process that had reached the decision to appoint Mr. Drew Harris. He must have thought about the possibility that in the future a person who had blocked information going to the families and survivors might possibly be arrested and brought before the courts in the North of Ireland and face a demand to give evidence there. If he has not considered this possibility, the process was not rigorous. Having blocked for six years the issuing of files to families, last August Mr. Harris was ordered to hand them over within 12 weeks. Last week the families received some of them. I do not know exactly how many they received, but two were held back. They relate to the Glenanne gang and a person known as the "Jackal". He refused to hand them over. The refusal to hand them over could be the subject of a court case. Is it right that a court should have to order the head of the PSNI, formerly the RUC, to hand over files within 12 weeks and that almost one year later he had only just about handed them over? I ask the Minister to picture the families who have waited six years for files and all of their lives for justice. At the end of July it will be 43 years since the Miami Showband massacre. The families have been denied access to the files by the State and now they will see a situation where a person who was the head of the PSNI will be the Garda Commissioner with access to files on their loved ones, files which they cannot access. Is that fair or just? Is it the justice the Minister wants to present?

On 31 July we will, sadly, commemorate the slaughter of the members of the Miami Showband. On behalf of the survivors, I ask the Minister and the Garda Commissioner to join us at the commemoration to meet the families and have this discussion with them. It will take place in Dublin.

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