Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

Today is the 31st anniversary of John Francis Hayes who was killed by the bomb at Dublin Airport on 29 November 1975. Our thoughts are with his family and the families of all the victims. The issue of collusion haunts our efforts to deal with the past. It is an issue which the Government has raised persistently with the British Government. We will, of course, raise the issues in this report with the British Government at the earliest opportunity. The Government has not yet seen the report and will need to consider its findings fully before deciding how to take its recommendations forward. However, the Government will continue to meet with victims and families and to assist them in whatever way it can. For example, the Miami Showband massacre is one of the atrocities examined in the report and the Taoiseach will meet with the families of those victims tomorrow.

It is important that the British Government considers the issues raised in this and other Oireachtas reports as a matter of urgency, and that it co-operates fully with any further investigations. In this regard the final report of the independent commission of investigation into aspects of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, the McEntee Commission of Investigation, is expected on 10 December. We understand that Mr. McEntee has had some success in his contacts with the British Government during his investigations.

I cannot comment at this stage on the recommendations of the report but it will be examined in detail and full and careful consideration will be given to the recommendations contained therein. The PSNI Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde, appeared before the joint committee earlier this month and spoke about the work of the Historical Enquiries Team, which has been charged with investigating over 3,000 deaths. He emphasised that for a number of reasons, the likelihood of solving cases in a judicial sense is slight. The situation in this jurisdiction is quite different. The number of unsolved murders in this State is significantly less than the 3,268 cases which the Historical Enquiries Team will examine and can be addressed on a case-by-case basis, as is happening now with the appointment of a dedicated review team in respect of the murder of the late Séamus Ludlow.

The Government will continue to offer the Northern Ireland Historical Enquiries Team every assistance in its work and the Garda Síochána has already co-operated with it on a number of cases. The Garda authorities note also that within the policing plans of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation there is provision for the review of unsolved crimes and there are regular look-back programmes in place in respect of unsolved crimes in other Garda divisions.

While we can never undo the hurt victims have suffered we must ensure they do not feel left behind as the political process advances. In that regard the Government recently decided to extend the term of office of the remembrance commission by a year and to allocate a further €1 million to the remembrance fund. The commission will also consider carefully how best to address the needs of victims and survivors arising from the conflict in Northern Ireland. As I said earlier, as soon as the report becomes available we will address its recommendations in detail to the best of our ability.

I thank Senators for the contribution they have made to this very important legislation. It is my wish to return to the House on its resumption this evening to complete the Committee and Remaining Stages.