Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the Ballymurphy inquest announcement. The verdicts have come in and after 50 years, the families and those who have campaigned have been vindicated. All of those who were killed on those fateful days in August 1971 were innocent, innocent and innocent. The inquest also established that there was no effective investigation into any of those deaths.

Today is a day of great relief and one to acknowledge the families and campaigners for their persistence and stamina. I am sure the verdicts will be met with a sense of bittersweet victory.

As the Taoiseach knows, the British Government is proposing to step away from the arrangements in the Stormont House Agreement for dealing with the past and legacy, and specifically those dealing with State killings that have never been properly investigated. How does the Taoiseach propose that this House take a stand in response to the verdict of this inquest?

See this speech in context