Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Flanagan, is present to take this important issue.

RTE did a good public service with its “Prime Time” documentary on collusion between British State forces and loyalist paramilitary groups. Most of us would probably have been aware of most of the incidents outlined in the programme but the actual screening and presentation of those horrific events was absolutely chilling. Monday night's documentary followed on from the recent BBC “Panorama” programme “Britain's Secret Terror Deals”, which examined the extent of British security forces’ collusion with republican and loyalist paramilitary groups. Among the cases covered in Monday's documentary were the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, the murder of Pat Finucane, the murderous behaviour of the Glennane gang and the atrocities of the Mount Vernon UVF gang. These documentaries follow on from the very valuable work carried out by Anne Cadwallader in her bookLethal Alliesand the very important comments of the former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Nuala O’Loan, who spoke on the BBC and RTE documentaries about the hundreds of deaths that happened in Northern Ireland as a result of security forces collusion. Those comments are very significant coming from a retired distinguished official.

We need in this House, at an early date, a full and comprehensive debate on all of these issues involving the treacherous behaviour of British State forces in collusion with groups classed as republican and loyalist paramilitaries. The information that has become available clearly demonstrates the absolute need to establish a full and independent investigation involving all the groups, and this is a necessary part of the reconciliation process.

“Panorama”, “Spotlight” and RTE documentaries expose the level of violence unleashed through British State collusion with vicious paramilitary groups. It is imperative that those involved be brought to justice. We need a full inquiry into this policy, including the release of all papers relating to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. For real reconciliation, the full truth must be revealed. Monday night's documentary was a harrowing reminder of the depth and scale of the carnage that was visited upon citizens in the North and in the Republic by men and women of violence. The horror of the troubles inflicted by the provisional IRA, other republican paramilitaries, loyalist paramilitaries and agents of the British security forces must be fully exposed and those involved must be brought to justice.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Táim fíor-bhuíoch don Leas-Cheann Comhairle as an seans a thabhairt dom labhairt ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo. Táim an-sásta go bhfuil an tAire, an Teachta Charlie Flanagan, anseo linn.

Monday's RTE documentary on collusion brought into sharp focus the shameful role of the British State, from its highest political level, in the planning, ordering and sanctioning of state murder on a massive scale, including against citizens in this State. Much of what it contained was not new. For citizens in the North, collusion has been part of the political landscape for decades. It took 30 years for RTE to make this programme. For many citizens here, it was the first real opportunity to see the reality of Britain's dirty war in Ireland. The policy of state-sponsored collusion between British State forces and unionist death squads was part and parcel of British policy.

Successive Irish Governments - any debate here should include this very important issue - failed to uphold the rights of hundreds of Irish citizens who were killed or the thousands more who were injured, imprisoned or tortured as a consequence of British policy. The most obvious examples of this are the 33 victims of the Dublin–Monaghan bombings and the human rights lawyer Pat Finucane. In this State also, there were the deaths of Councillor Eddie Fullerton, Jack Rooney and Hugh Watters - the latter two were killed in Dundalk - and Seamus Ludlow and many others.

Is it not long past time for the Government to make every effort to secure truth and justice for all the families? Will the Government commit to using its full political and diplomatic resources to demand from the British Government the long-denied files on the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and the establishment of the Pat Finucane inquiry. Furthermore, the two governments should proceed with the protocols and establish the bodies as agreed in the Stormont House agreement for dealing with legacy issues. Whatever difficulties exist currently in the institutions are the responsibility of both Governments. The Irish Government should not delay. That means the Irish Government taking leadership on this issue.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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The documentary on RTE on Monday night was very welcome following the excellent exposé in the book Lethal Alliesby Anne Cadwallader. If the Minister has not read it, I strongly recommend that he do so. The documentary took the viewers through decades of systemic collusion between British State forces and agents of the British State. Reference has been made to republican organisations. There were some agents within those organisations but let us be very clear that the loyalist paramilitary organisations in some cases were reformed by the British State agents. They were controlled by them throughout the decades in question, they were armed by them, they were directed to people's houses, and they were used as a strategic part of the war against republicans, who were resisting their strategy in our country. That is why it is so vital that the Minister, on behalf of our Government, engage robustly with the British Government on the issues that were brought into the public domain last Monday night, but not for the first time.

I am particularly mindful of the case of Eddie Fullerton. The amount of intelligence involved in that assassination was remarkable. The failure by on Garda Síochána to investigate that matter properly and the lack of interest on the part of governments since then are truly remarkable. I will return to this matter in the next few days. I cannot think of any other jurisdiction in Europe where the assassination of a much-loved elected representative by state agents would be met with complete disinterest and apathy for so many years. I hope the documentary will remind the Government of its responsibilities in the case of Eddie Fullerton and all those others who lost their lives at the hands of the British State.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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This week's RTE documentary, which I watched, presented a shocking account of allegations of collusion that spanned over three decades. In the first instance, my thoughts are with the families and relatives of those who were murdered in these events and for whom the documentary must have been deeply upsetting. The hurt caused by their loved ones being murdered in such vicious circumstances is compounded by the knowledge that elements of the British security forces colluded in the perpetration of such callous crimes. That collusion occurred during the Troubles between British State forces and paramilitaries is a matter of public record. However, concerns remain that the extent and scale of such collusion is not accepted.

Successive Irish Governments have raised the issue of collusion with the British Government; we continue to do so, including in regard to a number of individual cases of long-standing concern, such as the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and the case of the late solicitor Pat Finucane. I have raised both of these cases on a number of occasions with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and have done so again since Ms Villiers, MP, was reappointed to that office a few weeks ago. I expect that these concerns will also be discussed when the Taoiseach meets Prime Minister Cameron in London tomorrow.

With regard to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Government continues to press the British Government to respond in a positive way to the reasonable demand of the all-party motions passed in this House in 2008 and 2011 that an independent international judicial figure be given access to all material held by the British Government on these terrible atrocities. The Secretary of State is actively considering this matter and I hope we will see some progress being made in this regard in the near future. In 2001, it was accepted by both governments at Weston Park that certain cases from the past remained a source of grave public concern, particularly those giving rise to serious allegations of collusion by the security forces in each of our jurisdictions.

Both governments at that time committed to undertake a thorough investigation of allegations of collusion in the cases of the murders of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen, Superintendent Bob Buchanan, Pat Finucane, Lord Justice and Lady Gibson, Robert Hamill, Rosemary Nelson and Billy Wright.

This remains a matter of serious concern to the Government and indeed more generally to the people. More than 3,500 people died during the Troubles. The suffering of their relatives and friends endures to this day. There is no hierarchy of loss or grief for all these families. As part of the Government's approach to finding a better way of dealing with the legacy of the past, we will continue to work on the implementation of a comprehensive framework for dealing with the legacy of the past, as envisaged in the Stormont House Agreement.

The full implementation of the provisions of the agreement relating to the setting up of the institutions of the past remains a priority for this Government. These institutions include an historical investigations unit to take forward investigations into Troubles related deaths as well as an independent commission on information retrieval to enable victims and survivors to seek and privately receive information about Troubles related deaths. A measure of good progress has been made on the setting up of these institutions which will assist all victims, including the victims of collusion, in their quest for truth and justice.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. We know that the day of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings was the day of the greatest carnage during the period known as the Troubles. On that day, we witnessed the death of 33 innocent people and injuries caused to 300 innocent people. In replies to parliamentary questions I have consistently tabled, the Minister has indicated very strongly to me that he has raised at every opportunity with the Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, the need for the British Government to respond positively to the unanimous motions passed in this House in May 2008 and 2011. I had the opportunity to speak on both occasions when those motions were put before this House. They requested the British Government to give an eminent independent judicial figure access to the papers and files pertaining to the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. It is reprehensible that the British Government over so many years has not responded to the unanimous request of a sovereign Parliament for access to those papers. As the Minister said and as other Members and I have often said in the House, the very least the victims of the Troubles - the victims of those desperate atrocities - deserve is the truth. It behoves every government and every public agency to ensure everything is done to advance towards achieving the truth for those victims.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his response but I must say respectfully that it is not good enough simply to raise these issues with the British Government. Imagine if it emerged that the Government in England had authorised the killing of a human rights lawyer, councillors or other politicians or hundreds of citizens in Scotland. Imagine what would happen if that emerged? That is what happened here. It is now a matter of record. The Minister, the British Prime Minister and everyone knows it. The Government has a very clear responsibility to put in place a strategy. I have asked the Taoiseach and Minister numerous times to bring together our international friends and use our diplomatic capacity to get the British Government to do what it is obliged to do under the Good Friday Agreement and other agreements. Even if our Government was not a co-equal guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, it still has a responsibility to act on these matters. However, the Government is a co-equal guarantor and it must act accordingly.

I also ask the Minister to facilitate a meeting between the Taoiseach and the relatives in the justice support group and ask him whether he will commit to supporting a debate in the Dáil before the summer recess dedicated to the issue of collusion. As the Minister noted in his remarks, the Stormont House Agreement contains propositions for institutions to be put in place, including the historical investigations unit and other commissions, to deal with legacy issues. There is no reason the two governments cannot proceed to fully implement those proposals.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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The difficulty is that the British Government has never acknowledged the full extent of its role in the conflict. This was alluded to in the documentary and since then. The British Government has been dragged kicking and screaming - sometimes after decades of investigation - into acknowledging some incidents where it was responsible. That is the missing element. It has been the missing element in the peace process and it is certainly the missing element in the Minister's engagement with the British Government. The Government is co-guarantor of these various agreements. It is not a silent partner or minority stakeholder or shareholder. It is long overdue for it to have a frank and open conversation with the British Government to acknowledge the full extent of its role. This involved controlling and arming loyalist paramilitaries throughout all the decades of the conflict in targeted murders and assassinations of innocent civilians, human rights lawyers, GAA officials, Sinn Féin elected representatives and so on. That is what we are talking about. The British Government has never accepted its full responsibility and the Minister has never ensured it does. Will the Minister do this and will there be a debate before the summer recess on the issue of British state collusion? Will the Minister look at an extensive and comprehensive international examination of these matters?

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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No one who is prepared to deal in any objective way with the facts can be in any doubt about the seriousness and gravity of collusion and the content of that programme and others mentioned by Deputy Smith. I do not dispute anything that has been said by Deputy Smith or Deputy Adams about this issue. The wounds inflicted by collusion, which threaten to destroy trust in the state's most fundamental responsibility, namely, protecting its citizens, are deep and slow to heal. For many, the most serious doubts remain. Where doubts persist, it is difficult to achieve true and lasting reconciliation.

I assure the House that I will continue to raise the issues surrounding the Dublin-Monaghan bombings with the British Government in every possible arena. I do not have a difficulty with any of the points put forward by Deputy Adams in this regard. It is my belief, as I have said before in this House, that such cases must be addressed in a meaningful way if we are to achieve a genuinely reconciled society. In respect of the Pat Finucane case, I recently had the opportunity to meet members of the Pat Finucane Centre. I acknowledge their work. I also had the opportunity recently of meeting representatives from Justice for the Forgotten.

In respect of the Pat Finucane case, the House will be aware that the outcome of a judicial review hearing in the High Court in Belfast is pending. Therefore, I do not wish to comment in detail at this stage. However, I assure the Deputies that the position of the Irish Government remains clear and unambiguous, like that of the family of Mr. Finucane. We want the commitment made by both Governments at Weston Park in 2001 to establish a public inquiry to be honoured in full. We will continue to raise this issue and I expect that the issue will be on the agenda tomorrow when the Taoiseach meets the British Prime Minister. I will have the opportunity over the next few days to raise this issue once again. I acknowledge the recent utterance by the Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, when she said that she expected progress to be made on this issue. I will keep the House fully informed.

Deputy Adams is right when he says that the Stormont House Agreement provides for new ways to investigate the past and facilitate information recovered for victims and survivors to share their experiences. I agree with Deputy Smith and I acknowledge the support of the Opposition benches in this regard. I assure the Deputies that the Government continues to prioritise the full implementation of the agreement, not least because those who suffered the loss of loved ones or who were themselves victims of violence during the Troubles deserve the best possible means of dealing with the legacy of the past. In this, they continue to have the total commitment and full support of the Government.