Dan Boyle (Green Party)

I second the Government amendment. I also commend Senator Harris, in particular, as well as his colleagues among the Independent Senators, on tabling this timely motion. He has pointed out that, as a Member of the other House, I raised this issue on a regular basis. One of the more recent occasions on which it was raised in that House coincided with the 100th anniversary of the acquittal of Captain Dreyfus in France, which I found to be particularly ironic at the time. Although there was no anti-Semitism involved and there were no convulsions in national politics, there are parallels between the two cases. The idea of an individual in a military setting being denied natural justice is an obvious parallel and the raising of the case again constitutes a real attempt to address this injustice.

On a personal level, I have come to know Dónal de Róiste quite well because, following my election to the other House, he has been in regular contact with me, both personally and by e-mail. I became familiar with his life after what is euphemistically described in the motion as his retirement, or effective dismissal from the Defence Forces. While he has struggled to deal with the obvious injustice done to him, he has also lived a full, active and, in respect of service to his local community, good and prosperous life. It is of obvious ongoing concern that the injustice he has carried with him throughout his life was reflected in his relationship with his late father. As has been observed, it was a difficulty his mother tried to alleviate when she was alive. It also has been pointed out that the matter was brought up unnecessarily and, I believe, in an act of base politics in the 1997 Presidential election campaign.