Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her very open statement and her reassurances that she will work to achieve what is in the spirit of the Bill. I know the Bill is not perfect, given the nature of the issue and timescale in which it was presented, but at least the Minister is listening to the concerns that have been raised by the families. I know the coroner herself, Dr. Myra Cullinane, has facilitated the broadest scope or interpretation of the law when it comes to the Stardust inquest because she is working in a flawed system. It is not just that we need to fix this issue for the Stardust inquest and the very specific concerns relating to jury selection; we need to go back to the recommendations made by the independent working group in 2000 and the 52 recommendations made by the ICCL in 2021. We need to heed what they are saying. Ireland is an outlier. We are not serving people well with our inquest system. We are failing them, re-traumatising them and making the circumstances of their bereavement worse. I hope the Minister takes those recommendations on board but there is an obvious time constraint in the context of addressing the issues we are discussing today.

The coroner has done as much as she can in terms of interpretation of the law. She has invited new witnesses who did not give evidence at the previous judge-led inquiries or the original inquests to come forward. She has facilitated the use of pen portraits which, as Senator Ó Donnghaile stated, had a profound effect at the Ballymurphy inquest. Not only did they put faces and names to the victims, they gave them personalities and memories and made it clear that these were people who walked the earth and had lives that were taken from them that night. I again commend the coroner on facilitating those pen portraits in the Stardust inquest process. What she has clearly stated in the pre-inquest hearings is that she will not accept a non-jury inquest but she also is saying her hands are tied in the context of the selection process and she needs legislative change in order to fix that.

I feel reassured that the Minister has heard the concerns expressed tonight, is giving assurances there will not be a non-jury inquest and that she will work speedily to ensure there is no delay to the inquest. She has also assured us that the concerns in respect of the selection process and the income protection for jurors will be addressed. I welcome that and thank her for giving those assurances to the families. I again thank all present for coming here tonight.