Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the passage of this legislation. While we failed to get amendments passed, which we sincerely thought would strengthen it, we fully accept and support the passage of this legislation and the will of this House. As has rightly been acknowledged by Senator Ó Ríordáin, victims of the conflict, and people who have been hurt and continue to deal with trauma and loss, are at the heart of this Bill. While today's passage is welcome, the requirements on this State in comparison to those of the British state under the Stormont House Agreement are extremely modest and small in comparison. While this legislation is good and will bring some reassurance to a number of families, many of them will now look to the British Government and not see any movement at all, which will cause them further trauma, hurt, and pain.

As we pass this legislation through this House today, I am conscious of all the victims of the conflict, and of those who are campaigning, whether doing so through the courts, or by engaging with us, as politicians, or unfortunately, as we have seen on two separate occasions, through taking to the streets in their thousands to march for the full realisation of the truth and justice mechanisms agreed to in the Stormont House Agreement.

I sincerely welcome the passage of this Bill today, and I sincerely hope that it will bring some pressure to bear on the British Government to fulfil the obligations it agreed to when there was a functioning administration in the North and all parties and both Governments came together to agree these mechanisms. It is an absolute shame on those who continue to drag their feet and cause further hurt, pain, and injustice to the families in question. Go raibh maith agat.