Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the way up from Mayo this morning I listened to the sister of Anne Marren from Sligo talk about the horror of 17 May 1974 when her family waited for her at the train station in Sligo, as many do when people are returning from Dublin to rural Ireland. She described what the other families had gone through as well. I welcome the families here to be with us this evening, and also the relatives, and Justice for the Forgotten. I commend the Relatives for Justice and the Pat Finucane Centre. As I stand here, I wonder where we would be without them. We certainly owe them a debt of gratitude for the truth they have laid bare in recent years.

They have had 50 years of waiting for the truth of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, 50 years of cover-up, 50 years of denial, 50 years of having doors shut in their grieving faces, and 50 years of files shut tight. Those files must now be released. The British Government must be upfront and honest about the role its intelligence services played in the conflict and in the collusion. The Irish Government must answer on the failings of this State, the cover-ups, the unexplained actions and the lack of action that was taken. Raising this matter must be the priority for any Taoiseach in every meeting with his or her counterpart in Britain.

This is the final point I will make because I am out of time.

To add insult to injury, the British Government now presenting an independent public history of the Troubles is an insult to everybody across this island.

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