Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank all of the Deputies for raising a range of issues. Deputy Smith was the first to raise the issue of legacy. I believe there is a sincere commitment on behalf of the British Government as to the implementation of the legacy framework. That is shared by Prime Minister Starmer and, indeed, Secretary of State Hilary Benn, who has acted honourably in all of the negotiations and discussions in respect of the legacy framework. I visited Chequers last September specifically on legacy, along with other issues. It was important to meet with Keir Starmer on that. He has experience of the North from a former role there.

I know the Deputy has been a strong advocate on Belturbet and Monaghan and Dublin. From our perspective, it is important that the Denton report may shed some light on the Monaghan bombing and related issues Deputy Ó Murchú raised. This is relevant also to the activities of the Glennane gang and we eagerly await its publication. Operation Kenova was quite good, in my view, particularly in terms of the victims, who were very impressed with Jon Boutcher when he was in charge of Kenova. They articulated to me that he was one of the first people they met who understood where the families of the victims are coming from.

Deputy Moynihan also raised legacy. We have responsibilities in our jurisdiction. If assertions are made about us, we need to robustly deal with them, but the most effective way to do it is to make sure we respond properly to legacy. As part of the framework agreement, the British Government has, with speed, produced its legislation. That demonstrates the seriousness with which it is approaching this essential work. We are also producing legislation once the UK legislation is enacted. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, has said he is hopeful the general scheme of the Bill will be published in April or May of next year. Enabling reciprocal co-operation between the two jurisdictions is at the heart of the agreed joint framework on legacy.

Additionally, as part of the joint framework agreement, the Garda Commissioner has agreed to the establishment by the end of this year of a dedicated unit as a central point of contact in relation to Troubles-related investigations undertaken by An Garda Síochána. That is an important step forward. Unionist communities in the North have always had a view. We did the Smithwick tribunal and we dealt with it quickly as part of the commitment of earlier agreements, but we do also have to be upfront in terms of the legacy framework and respond properly and comprehensively in relation to that.

I say to Deputy Ó Murchú and all those concerned about legacy that it is not about British state violence alone. It is about that, but it is also about the role of the paramilitaries, such as the Provisional IRA. I have met families of victims who have had no closure at all in terms of atrocities committed by the Provisional IRA or the Ulster loyalist groups. The focus has to be broad-based. There is an opportunity in this legacy framework to give closure to families once and for all, after decades of a lack of closure.

Deputy Coppinger raised the issue of Saoirse Wagner and asked me to talk to the Queen's University authorities. The right to protest is sacrosanct. A number of Deputies have raised this issue. Sometimes protests impede other people from doing their normal work, which is a problem. People are entitled to protest. When the war in Gaza started, I was addressing a group of 100 law students, but the objective of a protest was to stop me and to interfere with the exercise and engagement with about 100 law students. People were shouting internally, security asked them to leave and eventually they did. I was in no doubt that the whole purpose was that I would not have that engagement. Where is the balance of rights there in terms of my freedom to speak as a public representative or the freedom of people in the community to hear me? A lot of protests have crossed the line, in my opinion, with a view to stopping things happening. During a consultative forum on security challenges that I hosted as Minister for foreign affairs two years ago, the protests at that were not about protests. They were deliberately calculated to disrupt the event.

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