Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Every victim in the North of Ireland is absolutely entitled to justice. Let us not forget the purpose of the Act in question. The Tories have admitted in Westminster that the purpose of the Act is to stop cases being taken against the British military. That is the objective behind the Act. It is important that we understand that context.

The Taoiseach referred to timelines. Before the Act was passed, the Taoiseach said he would use diplomacy to try to stop the British on their course. Three months have passed since the Act passed into law. It seems that for three months we have been speaking to the Attorney General looking for advice on what we should do. That is an incredibly long time. My worry is that years the Government's strategy with the British Government has been to adopt a softly-softly approach and use diplomatic tones. The Tory Government does not understand that language. That is the truth of it. When the European Union wanted to change the direction of travel of the Tory Government in terms of Brexit, it threatened a legal court case in international law. That changed the Tory Government's actions. My worry is that we are heading into a Christmas period when hundreds of families across the North of Ireland and in the South will be worried and stressed that their opportunity for truth and justice will evaporate. The Dáil will not sit before the January deadline passes. Will the Taoiseach make the declaration to which I refer today?

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