Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On Tuesday, 11 May, there was finally some justice for the ten people murdered in the Ballymurphy massacre. Fifty years after the tragedy of August 1971, an inquest, led by the coroner, Mrs. Justice Siobhan Keegan, found that the ten people killed were entirely innocent. The inquest found that nine of the victims had been shot by the British army. However, due to the lack of investigation at the time into the tenth death, that of John McKerr, it was not possible to definitively rule who had shot him.

Nine men and one woman were killed in the massacre, the 44-year-old Joan Connolly was a mother of eight children. Fr. Hugh Mullan, a 38-year-old priest, was also among those killed, as was Francis Quinn, aged 44, who was shot when he went to help the priest.

These ten innocent victims were killed as part of operation Demetrius, which was internment without trial. The first day of operation Demetrius on 9 August 1971, approved by the British Government, involved mass arrests of more than 340 people from Catholic backgrounds. Ian Paisley was opposed to internment as he was concerned that some loyalists would be interned.

From 9 August 1971 until the end of that year, it is estimated that around 150 people were killed, with hundreds more injured. That is 150 dead in four months. The year 1972 was the worst year of the Troubles with almost 500 people killed.

With the British Government’s involvement in operation Demetrius, one would think a proper state apology would have been forthcoming following the vindication of the ten people’s innocence.

Last Friday, the Fianna Fáil Taoiseach met with the Tory Prime Minister on a number of issues. The Taoiseach said of the Ballymurphy verdict and his meeting with Boris Johnson: "...and I think the British Prime Minister, you know, is fully appraised of it. And I think will respond in his own way, in his own time." That is quite insulting, insulting to our Taoiseach and to the families of the Ballymurphy massacre, that the Taoiseach would even accept this from the British Prime Minister.

Why was a full and unreserved apology not delivered from the floor of Westminster, as David Cameron did after the Saville inquiry? If there had been a proper investigation in Ballymurphy we might never have had a Bloody Sunday at all.

Boris Johnson’s private apology for the Ballymurphy massacre was reportedly delivered over a call to Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill in the North. A letter sent to families is also not sufficient. John Teggart, son of Daniel Teggart, said on Thursday:

It's the manner of the apology, sending a letter two minutes before the secretary of state went live on TV. It's the timing.

For some 50 years these families have been fighting for justice and answers and the least the Prime Minister could do is offer an official, adequate, public apology. The untruths told about the ten victims were public at the time. Correcting the record therefore should also be acknowledged in a public way.

Further unnecessary upset was caused to the families and many, many others around the North with the ill-conceived talk of an amnesty for British soldiers’ actions during the Troubles. I see the Taoiseach apparently warned Johnson against such a move in their meeting last week but how strong was this warning? We may never really know. An amnesty cannot happen. Some families are only now getting some justice and answers. Many will never get any answers. Procedures must, however, be in place to allow people to look for justice and for criminal prosecutions, where appropriate.

I support the calls of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, and the Committee for the Administration of Justice, CAJ, that we need assurances from the British Government that it will not seek to curtail further legacy inquests through its proposed Northern Ireland legacy Bill. In a joint briefing note, the ICCL and CAJ stated:

There is still a risk, in particular with inquests delivering truth recovery, that there will be a fresh UK attempt to curtail legacy inquests, despite the competence largely falling to the NI Department of Justice. It is essential that the Irish Government resists any attempts to curtail such inquests.

I wonder what sort of warning the Taoiseach gave. How strongly was it conveyed to the British Prime Minister that we will not accept any such an amnesty? The hurt, injustice and cover-ups are not just part of history. They are evident in everyday lives, families and communities. People continue to exploit tensions for their own political gains and we will watch with interest how the new DUP leader will also deal with things.

How many other families and communities are waiting for justice? We know well in this House about the Dublin and Monaghan bombing victims and how they are also being thwarted by the British. It is partly because the British have been allowed to present themselves as neutral in this conflict, which they never were. They were always an active participant and there might not have been a need for a peace process if the British had lived up to their role in the conflict. On that point we will probably never know.

I will finish by referring to where we have talked in recent days, and in fact in the past year or so, about the vital role that the European Union played in ensuring peace, the Good Friday Agreement and such matters. I have heard no comment, however, from the European Union on the Ballymurphy inquests and what is happening there. This is interesting and perhaps the rewriting of history will happen on this issue also.

I commend the families and communities who never gave up looking for truth, justice and answers for their lost and loved ones and I offer my full solidarity to them all.

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