Jim Higgins (Fine Gael)

Will the Minister of the State give an assurance the matter will be investigated if the new independent witnesses come forward and Mr. Greg O'Neill, the solicitor acting on behalf of the Fullerton family, presents the file containing the evidence to his Department? Does he accept the Garda is not the appropriate authority to investigate this matter, given that 12 years has elapsed and there is a cross-Border dimension to the case involving both the Garda and the RUC, which calls for an independent inquiry? Will the Minister of State give an assurance, which I seek advisedly, that the investigation will be carried out by an authority independent of the police forces in both jurisdictions because both have manifestly failed to deliver the people who perpetrated this horrendous crime?