Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I wish to draw attention to the case of Mr. Denis Donaldson. A joint commission report has already been issued by both the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission calling for an inquest under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights into the murder of Mr. Denis Donaldson in County Donegal in 2006. Mr. Donaldson's family have made calls to both commissions, focused particularly on the questions facing the agencies which recruited and handled Mr. Donaldson as an informer. Does Dr. Manning agree that unless the inquest into Mr. Donaldson's murder is compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the relevant PSNI special branch personnel and many others will not be obliged to assist the coroner's inquest, nor will they be obliged to hand over all documents, electronic or otherwise, that they possess in regard to Mr. Donaldson's murder?

The legislation governing inquests in this part of the island is totally out of step with the system in the North of Ireland. This inquest will, of course, be held in Donegal, where Mr. Donaldson was murdered, under the standards demanded by the European Court of Human Rights. Therefore, will Dr. Manning join me in calling for this legislative inequality to be urgently corrected by the Government in order that our coroner's court would have the power to compel disclosure of information from state agencies in any part of Ireland where it touches on the death of an Irish citizen?

I thank Dr. Manning for his inspiring lectures to me when I took my degree in economics and politics at night in UCD. He continues to be an inspiration.