John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On this morning 47 years ago, in a field outside Clones in County Monaghan, the body of Senator Billy Fox was discovered with a single gunshot wound through his upper back. He was killed instantly. The night before, he was visiting the home of his fiancé, Marjorie Coulson, at her family home; a Protestant family from a Border area. As he went down the dark laneway that night, he was confronted by 12 IRA gunmen who were in the process of searching the Coulson home. They were wrongly tipped off and lied to, and told that the Coulson family were hiding arms for loyalist paramilitaries. It was a total and utter lie and a stain upon the Coulson family. Billy Fox confronted the 12 men and then tried to escape. He got 1 km away and was shot at the bottom of a field. Subsequently, the Coulson family home was burnt and the family were put out onto the side of the road.

Billy Fox was one of the most courageous politicians this House has ever seen. He was an outspoken critic of the British military campaign in the Border region and of the British policy of cratering Border roads, and yet, he was still murdered. He took CS gas canisters and rubber bullets into this very Chamber to protest against the then Government's policy on Northern Ireland and had to be forcibly removed by the ushers of this House. That cost him his Dáil seat in the subsequent general election and it cost him his life the following year.

Very few Members of the Oireachtas have been assassinated. Before Billy Fox, it was Kevin O'Higgins in 1927. Now, on the 40th anniversary of his murder and as we approach the 50th anniversary, I believe it is incumbent that this House recognises Senator Fox as an assassinated Member, and that we erect some form of plaque or memorial to him in Leinster House. I suggest that everyone who has the opportunity today should google "Rumours from Monaghan", an excellent RTÉ radio documentary that starts off on a September autumn morning with the birds chirping as the presenter stands by the grave of Senator Fox in Aughnamullen cemetery in County Monaghan. We need to remember Senator Fox in an appropriate way in this House.