Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The report of the ombudsman into the south Belfast killings is grim. It details 27 loyalist murders and attempted murders in south Belfast. There were eight RUC special branch agents involved in 27 murders. One agent was recruited because of his involvement in the planning, preparation and execution of previous murders. There was collusion in each and every killing. State agents involved in murder were allowed to kill and kill again. RUC agents handed guns back out to loyalist paramilitaries so they could kill again.

The report is grim. It is shocking, disgraceful and appalling. What it is not is that it is on its own. There was the report on Operation Greenwich in respect of the killing of 19 people, including Councillors Eddie Fullerton and Bernard O'Hagan. The investigation into the death of Pat Finucane is ongoing. There were previously reports on loyalist killings in south Down and the north west, including Loughinisland, Greysteel and other incidents. It can no longer be dismissed by anyone as a few rotten apples. This was systemic. It was a part of Britain's tools of war in the North; its tools of war in Ireland. Of that there can now be no question.

It is welcome that we are having these statements today because I regret this issue has not got the attention it ought to have received outside this Chamber or generally speaking. The coverage it got in the British media was practically nil. It was covered in the Irish media but, to be honest, I am not sure that coverage was to the depth and extent it should have been, given how shocking the findings were. Our nearest neighbour, the state that governs the Six Counties in the North of our country, used loyalist paramilitaries as death squads to assassinate people on a very widespread basis.

It seems clear now that the trail of this goes all the way to No.10. It is important that it is now part of Government policy and communication that it is clear with the British Government that it does not accept the full truth has been told in respect of collusion because it has been clearly shown, including in this report, to be systemic and part of policy.

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