Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I add my voice to those asking for an urgent response from this House in the form of a debate on the Saville inquiry. Within the next few minutes the report will be publicly released. It is vitally important, and that is not just because I come from the region and people in the area have been directly and indirectly affected by this for almost four decades. I was three when these events happened. Many families want the results of the inquiry to vindicate the lives of the 14 people who were gunned down that day. It is vital we give the report the respect of immediately reacting to it in the Seanad.

We should also consider the experience of the island of Ireland and what we have learned from conflict. As I have said previously, I wrote a report for the Council of Europe on how one teaches history in areas of recent conflict. The report was adopted by 47 countries. I was due to be in Norway as a guest speaker on this at an international conference tomorrow but I could not be paired to go. It is important that what we learn from our conflict is used to help in other conflict situations. I was in Stormont yesterday, where MLAs Mr. Gerry McHugh and Dr. Kieran Deeny had Mairead Corrigan present to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian situation in Gaza. One of the links we could use to bring the Irish experience to bear is the fact that one of the current Israeli Ministers, Mr. Yitzhak Herzog, has a direct and indirect relationship with both Belfast and Dublin. Perhaps the MLAs, Deputies and Senators should organise a deputation to meet with him and inform him or work with him with regard to the lessons we have learned from our conflict in an effort to assist the Israelis in dealing with the very pervasive and damaging conflict, for not only the people in Gaza but also for the minorities in Israel.