Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Following the controversy over a tweet from Deputy Brian Stanley, who I consider to be a good and decent man, I have thought long and hard about what I am about to say this morning. In 40 years of the Northern Irish Troubles, over 3,500 people were killed in conflict; 52% were civilians, 32% were members of the British security forces and 16% were members of paramilitary groups. There is no hierarchy in murder. All were needless, all were brutal. Many victims were simply people going about their daily business, just like other Members and I do on a daily basis. Was the murder of Pat Finucane in 1989 any more terrible than the senseless killing of Jean McConville in 1972? Did the Ballymurphy killings by the Parachute Regiment justify the Narrow Water killings by the Provisional IRA?

Collusion is dealt with in the University of Portland's Pilot Scholars report on "British Collusion in the Irish War on Terror". It analyses the legal and ethical implications of deploying collusion tactics to deter terrorism. In it, historians Ed Moloney and Matthew Teague both discovered by their independent research that British efforts at collusion were arguably illegal and morally unethical. Both found that the British authorities would go to extreme lengths to maintain undercover agents' identities, even to the extent of allowing agents to kill innocent civilians or other intelligence agents in order to remain undercover. British intelligence adopted counterterrorism measures, which included the recruitment and handling of Provisional IRA and UDA informants in order to infiltrate the paramilitary groups' command networks.

This is collusion. There was state collusion and state-sponsored collusion. The lawyer Pat Finucane was shot dead in front of his wife and children in Belfast by a UDA hit squad which included British police and members of the intelligence service. A public inquiry into this senseless killing has been denied. However, was he the only one killed in this way? Is his family the only family entitled to a public inquiry? Members of the security forces were gunned down by members of the IRA. If we believe the evidence above that I have already averted to, some of those were British agents. I believe there will never be a public inquiry. No government anywhere in the world would allow such an inquiry for to do so would be to expose them as terrorists themselves, similar to the brutal regimes they condemn publicly.

Let us not forget there was collusion by the security forces in the Republic. Judge Smithwick adverts to the collusion between members of the Garda and the IRA, which is most regrettable. It was only a limited case but nonetheless, it happened. If we accept there will never be a public inquiry, then we must demand the establishment of a truth commission with a full amnesty for all witnesses. We can no longer allow the pain of what went on in Northern Ireland for 40 years to contaminate future generations. Here in the Republic, we must move on. We cannot demand that Sinn Féin participate in government in the North while at the same time describing it as being of dubious credentials in the South. I have had to put aside my own deep personal hurt with respect to the terrible intimidation my mother and father were subjected to in 1974 as a result of my service in the Royal Irish Rangers. I have to move on. We have to move on. Here in the Republic, we must move away from the brand "Sinn Féin-IRA". We must see Sinn Féin as just another political party born out of a conflict, just like Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.I and all who seek full reconciliation must learn to stop thinking of Sinn Féin as being run by an army council and saying, "They have not gone away, you know". I assure the House I will find that very difficult at times. For its part, Sinn Féin must learn just how deeply offensive are some of the poorly thought out statements, comments and tweets it makes. It too must move into the normal political discourse like the rest of us.

I know the Deputy Leader and the Cathaoirleach have done quite a lot of work in this area themselves. We must move on. We must grab peace and the only way we can do that is to treat each and every person with the respect we want ourselves. Believe me, I think back to 1974 and how my mother was treated at 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. in the morning, being woken out of her bed to be told I was shot, I would be shot or they were coming to get me. It was not something trivial because they did take one of my colleagues out of his house in Derry and shot him in Donegal. I find it deeply hurtful when I see statements such as that made by Deputy Brian Stanley. I spoke to him about it and I fully understand now what he was trying to say. However, me fully understanding what he was trying to say in a 180 character tweet is not good enough. Sinn Féin must stop that and we for our part must try to put the deep feelings we have about what went on in this country over 40 years behind us and we must learn to grab peace. If we do not we will go back to where we came from.