Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

Senator Brian Hayes has raised an important issue with the Shot at Dawn Campaign. It would be right and significant for the House to demonstrate united support for the campaign. In recent years, we have seen, particularly through satellite television, the archival film material from the battlefront of the First World War. We have all come to realise how horrific it was.

I have read some of the case histories of those soldiers shot at dawn. Many were not for serious infringement of rules. Some of these points have been made by Senator Minihan and others. Very often the cases concerned simple disorientation of an individual for 24 or 48 hours. The significance of Senator Brian Hayes's comments is that it would not only be human and right, but symbolic for the House to show what war does to ordinary people. I read some comments subsequent to the executions made by officers, many of whom were not happy with what was happening. We owe it to ourselves and the families and memories of those who were wrongly executed to ensure such barbarity will never again happen.