Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire and I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I commend the repeated statements of solidarity, as well as the actions, that this Government and previous Governments have taken concerning this issue.

We are here again to discuss how a foreign Government's actions affects us as a people. For generations, the it has abused this island and because of that, I find it hard to see a time when we, as a people, will not be continuously traumatised by its actions. Time and again the British Government has thrown its weight behind a decision on something that is so integral to this island and we must react. They break international agreements, talk out both sides of their mouths and we stand here to outline our anger, frustration and upset.

It is a rare day that every party on this island agrees on an issue. That just highlights the importance of the issue and the importance of creating an agreed pathway forward, which we thought we had. Over the course of more than 20 years, successive UK Governments have failed to put in place a comprehensive set of mechanisms to deal with the legacy of the conflict in Northern Ireland. The Stormont House Agreement of 2014 was completed after lengthy negotiations. The agreement offered a route to finally deliver on the promises made to victims and to comply with binding international legal obligations. However, despite the commitments to introduce the enabling legislation, the current UK Government has now again acted and has unilaterally abandoned agreements to which it signed up. That sounds familiar does it not? We, as Irish people, know that we cannot trust the British Government or the British establishment and in fact, we have known that since the 13th century. As they reneged on the Treaty of Limerick, the current situation really is no surprise.The British Government’s legacy proposals are not acceptable. It is not acceptable that it wishes to hand out amnesties for those who committed murder. It is not acceptable that no individual group, organisation, or state forces or agents can be immune from prosecution. It has unilaterally decided for itself how it believes is best to "deal with the past" as it calls it. However, it is not the past; it is people's present. The people of this island, more importantly the victims and the families who live with this unknown over their heads and in their hearts, deserve to know the truth about what went on. They deserve access to justice and answers, no matter how hard those answers are to take. The truth must be given.

It was a dirty war and I understand why the British Government wants to leave behind its actions and not be accountable. The British turned a blind eye on many things when it was convenient for them to do so. In many ways they fuelled the violence by either committing it themselves with many proven examples of state-sanctioned violence and also with their many double agents. They fuelled it and facilitated so much. A paranoid person might think it is convenient for some parties and the British Government to keep people in an emotional state, upset, dealing with the past and traumatised because that keeps people at a standstill and unable to move on. That is convenient for some sectors.

Over the past 100 years, many people in this country had to grow up and grow old without their husband, wife, parents, brothers, sisters, aunts or uncles. There is no hierarchy of pain or heartache. There is no hierarchy of justice or truth. No one person's truth is worth more than another's. There are secrets and hurt around every corner in this country. Violence has caused desperate hurt. The secrets behind that violence cause endless hurt, bitterness and an inability to move on and grieve properly. The families need truth and justice. They deserve the truth and that truth must come from every side.

Being from north Louth, I am constantly reminded of Jean McConville and Tom Oliver. Somebody somewhere can give answers to the McConville family yet they do not. Somebody somewhere can give answers to the Oliver family on the vicious murder of Tom Oliver yet they do not. The British Government can provide truth and give answers yet it keeps refusing to do so. It perpetuates the cover-up of its actions. We need the truth from everyone. We need to be able to move on together no matter how hard that moving on is because we all have answers to give, including the Irish State which has not been innocent in all the trauma on this island either. We will never heal on this island with the gaping wounds of betrayal, distrust and heartache. If these secrets remain to be opened, we will all remain in constant state of trauma.