Ian Marshall (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for Justice and Equality for his attendance in the House. I ask him to provide an update on the publication of the proposed Bill to provide for enhanced co-operation with legacy inquests in Northern Ireland. The Kingsmill massacre was a heinous crime. It was an affront to humanity and an attack on all the good people who lived and worked in the small sleepy townland of Kingsmill near Whitecross in south Armagh. I remember the atrocity vividly as an eight year old boy growing up a few miles from where the carnage took place. It was described as one of the deadliest mass shootings of the Troubles in a vicious parade of tit-for-tat murders in a small geographical area where the scale of the loss of human life was unimaginable.

On 5 January 1976, on a dark, cold winter's evening, a minibus with workmen travelling home after a day's work was stopped on the side of a lonely country road by armed gunmen. The workmen were ordered out and lined up against the minibus. The one Catholic on the minibus was ordered to run away and the 11 remaining passengers were faced with summary execution and slaughtered in cold blood. There was no self defence and no chance. One man, Alan Black, survived despite having been shot 18 times and he has survived to this day, no doubt reliving the horror many times over on a daily basis. The local community was in a state of shock.

Last week in Belfast, Judge Brian Sherrard heard representations from stakeholders on the ongoing debate on whether the inquest into Kingsmill should name the two deceased suspects in the case. These were two individuals who were in receipt of on-the-run comfort letters. Judge Sherrard also made reference to the Birmingham bombings inquest, in respect of which senior IRA figures in Dublin had authorised the naming of four deceased suspects, names which the inquest subsequently published. He appealed for anyone with information on Kingsmill to release this to the families or the authorities and to give answers to some of the questions that have tormented the families for over four generations.

During the hearing, counsel for the coroner, Sean Doran QC, noted that the Dublin authorities gave assurances that a Bill allowing the coroner to travel south to question Garda officers would be progressed in September 2018 but unfortunately, there appears to be little or no advancement of this. Alan Kane QC, counsel for some of the families, made the point that families had lost hope, partly as a result of the apparent lack of appetite in Dublin to move on this, but also because of concerns that any further written questions regarding the massacre to the Dublin authorities would be a distraction from the lack of progress on the Bill.

When this was reported last week in the Belfast Newsletter, Philip Bradfield noted that the newspaper had contacted the Irish Department of Justice and Equality, which had responded that the drafting of the Bill was "at an advanced stage" and would be published very soon. Criticism was also levelled at the Northern Ireland Office for a failure to present a witness to provide evidence on the on-the-run scheme, even though contact had been made as far back as February.

This atrocity goes down as one of the darkest episodes in the Troubles across the province. Families, torn apart with grief and loss, have felt abandoned by the State on both sides of the Border. These families, as passive onlookers to other inquests and inquiries, namely, the Bloody Sunday inquiry, Ballymurphy, the Birmingham pub bombings and, as recently as yesterday, the developments in the Daniel Hegarty case, feel completely abandoned and left behind with a sense of unfairness and a feeling that there is absolutely no regard for their redress, for closure for them, for answers to their questions or an opportunity to get whatever small degree of comfort or closure they rightly deserve, 43 years later.These people are living this horror on a daily basis. It never goes away and it never will go away. The wrongs cannot be righted nor their loved ones returned but what can be done is to hasten the progress of this Bill to assist with answers to questions, to assist with the legal process and to demonstrate to these families that there is no hierarchy of loss, pain or suffering, that there is no hierarchy of victims and that all victims' families deserve answers and closure.

What is the status of the Bill? What is the reason for the delay and when can the House expect to see the advancement of the Bill? Could the Minister give assurances to the families of the Kingsmill massacre victims that no stone will be left unturned to answer their questions and to facilitate the coroner in his attempt to fill the information gaps in the 43-year struggle fighting for answers. Furthermore, I appeal to the Kingsmill massacre inquest in Belfast to release the names of the suspects in this case.

If there is any degree of humanity or compassion in those responsible for this atrocity, they should see fit to authorise the release of the suspects' names. The release of names in the Birmingham inquest has set a precedent, not only to identify those responsible but to take the suspicion and stigma away from those in the locality mistakenly labelled as perpetrators. There is no doubt this one act was a defining moment in the history of south Armagh and it drove a wedge of mistrust between communities that would take decades to heal. This Bill will not bring back the deceased, but it will go some way to reassure the families that they are as important as others and like others, they too deserve answers.