Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a massive interest in history and I have always admired the work of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which has spent many decades tracking down Nazi war criminals. It has done so with the support of many police forces throughout the world. Indeed, the Home Office in Britain and the UK police forces have been very good to engage in that over the years and they have led the way in Europe in terms of seeking justice for victims of the Holocaust. Victims of any war or of paramilitarism have every right until their dying day to seek justice for family members. This is what is at the heart of everything we are discussing this afternoon. The same applies in any jurisdiction. People have the right to full justice for a family member or loved one who has died.

To see Boris Johnson seek to introduce, on 14 July last, a statute of limitation ending criminal investigations and prosecutions relating to the period of the Troubles as well as inquests and civil litigation was absolutely deplorable. It was denying people the right to justice, the right to information, the right to a judicial procedure and the right to an appeal procedure that I referred to. It is a fundamental departure from the Stormont House Agreement. The Irish State cannot accept this. The Minister and the Government will have to reiterate this point to the British Government time and again, that this fundamental departure from the Stormont House Agreement will not be accepted by Ireland.

Recently published reports by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland reveal shocking behaviour. My colleague Deputy Brendan Smith has just referred to the handing back of weaponry to loyalist paramilitaries which was used again to target and kill innocents. I also wish to mention the trial of the hooded men. In 1971, 14 men were taken into custody in the North. They were hooded and denied food, water and sleep. White noise was played and they were tortured. They did not see daylight for many days. The UK Supreme Court ruling last December found that the PSNI decision to suspend that investigation case was unlawful. I am surprised there has not been a high level of debate in this House yet, because there are some senior personnel still in the PSNI and some have transferred and now serve with An Garda Síochána. We must have a lens of scrutiny on their roles in suspending that investigation.

I joined my colleague Deputy Brendan Smith earlier today in meeting Stephen Travers of the Miami Showband. It is well worthwhile to listen to him. There have been many documentaries and a great deal written about him. He has gone on an incredible journey, along with his family and friends, to try to get answers and justice. However, that can only happen when the state and the arms of the state, including the police service, fall in behind it.

Finally, I wish to go off on a tiny tangent, if the chairperson will allow me. The necrology wall at Glasnevin Cemetery is very important. I started by speaking about history. It is very important we do not start whitewashing history and saying the events of the past were something good or positive. Mr. Joe Duffy of RTÉ fame was absolutely right to lead the way in having the innocent victims of 1916 all named on the wall of remembrance in Glasnevin Cemetery. However, it should stop there. There is no place on that wall for members of the Royal Irish Constabulary or members of the British armed forces whose existence in Ireland was not to push a bicycle down the village street and tell people to go home because it was closing time in the pub. They were not here for that. They were here from the get-go to suppress the Irish will for independence and freedom. There is an absolute need to walk away from anything that tries to whitewash that a century later and bestow honour on them.

I thought about telephoning Joe Duffy's show a week ago because the debate on the radio was extremely slanted. I wish to state on the record that the innocent victims of 1916 and through to the Civil War period should be commemorated, as well as, indeed, the Irishmen who fought on both sides during the Civil War. We need to move on. However, we will not, as a nation, tip our cap time and again, have an imperial inferiority and say we will commemorate a force whose existence here was solely to subjugate the will of an independent Irish state.

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