Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join colleagues regarding the case in Berkeley. On the morning of 9-11, my son was in New York and he was on his way to the twin towers. I pay tribute to the Department of Foreign Affairs, which worked overtime at the time to put parents' minds at rest. I recall that we got our telephone call at 7 p.m. to tell us our son was alive and uninjured. When I saw the photographs he brought home from New York, I realised how close he was. We have photographs of him standing looking up at the towers coming down. I am deeply sorry and I am fully aware of the pain and suffering parents are going through today.

I visited Clerys earlier with a number of Members of both Houses. As previous speakers said, the need for the new owners to meet the workers and to sort out redundancy payments, pension entitlements, etc., is urgent. In particular I rise to speak about the collusion which was covered in a programme on RTE last night. It is no secret I served in two armies in my time, and last night I watched in horror when I saw what I would call highly-trained people on the Protestant side of Northern Ireland march around the place with the UVF and UDA. When I saw what went on there I was horrified by it. I know decent, good people on both sides of the religious and political divides in the North. In fairness, the IRA, who are no friends of mine, have taken some hammering over the years for the atrocities they carried out. We need to impress upon the Taoiseach the need now to open up what happened on the loyalist side and the collusion which took place. I am horrified to think people in high positions and political officers of the state of the United Kingdom employed soldiers to assist terrorists carry out their actions in Dublin and Monaghan and in the various killings which took place in Northern Ireland. We all know about the IRA ones. It is time we opened the door on what went on with the security forces in Northern Ireland. I commend the RUC sergeant who came out publicly on the RTE programme and I commend RTE for the great job it did. I would like to see some action on this as soon as possible.