Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I compliment the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform for changing his position on the young boy from Nigeria. By making this decision, the Minister has shown he is compassionate.

I support the establishment of an inquiry into the callous murders of Superintendent Robert Buchanan and Chief Superintendent Harry Breen. A little under a year ago, 30 people whose relatives had been murdered as a result of state collusion visited us here and invited Deputies and Senators to meet them. These people gave detailed and emotional accounts of how their loved ones were murdered, always at times when routine checkpoints were not in place. These families are painfully aware that the murders were state-sanctioned and were not investigated by the police. They are lobbying for truth and justice and need answers. I felt helpless when they asked us for help at the end of the meeting because it appeared that nothing would be done for them. After his third inquiry into collusion, Sir John Stevens stated explicitly that collusion had taken place. His report was a damning indictment of British policy in Ireland, showed that British agents were involved in the murder of Irish people and highlighted the British forces' criminal obstruction of his inquiry.

Following on from the valiant work done by Senator Jim Walsh in the justice committee on the Barron report, the Minister should demand that the British Government holds a public inquiry into the Barron report. If I was in the Minister's place, I would demand an inquiry.