Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I must disagree with the Minister there, because I think it would serve a useful purpose. The Minister in her response said that the activities were not agreed with at the time. That is not actually true. They were agreed with and a blind eye was turned to them. The crux of the problem here is that not only the Garda but the State, the Government and everybody else turned a blind eye to these activities and allowed them to continue. Free rein was given to the Garda to allow that to happen. If nothing else were to result, hopefully an investigation and inquiry would ensure that nothing like this happens again in future. I say that because I believe the potential is still there for it to happen and that is the crux of the problem. We must address this situation and ensure there is no potential in this regard. Only by admitting the mistakes of the past, coming to terms with them, admitting we did this wrong and that we failed and must not do this again, can we be sure of it not happening again. There are still people alive who are suffering because of what has happened in these cases and that needs to be acknowledged formally as well.

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