Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his comments. In respect of the quotation and the comment he has just made, I wish to reassure him and those family members and communities who have campaigned tirelessly on behalf of their loved ones that they will not be forgotten and that they have not been forgotten, despite the fact that almost five decades have passed. As a Government, we have consistently raised these issues with our colleagues in the North and with our British Government counterparts. We have continued to insist that there must be engagement and truth, and that we must find answers to all of the questions that these families have. There must be some conclusion to all of this so that they can, in some way, shape or form, be at peace with what has happened and I do not know if that will ever be the case for many of them. There is an onus and an obligation on us to do everything we can for these families and I assure the Senator that every effort has and will continue to be made to ensure that that is the case.

Obviously, we have seen further developments in the UK today with proposals around other legacy-type issues and how they would be dealt with. I want to stress here that any proposals must be worked with and dealt with in a comprehensive and collaborative way. Any unilateral action will simply not be tolerated by this Government and the legislation today is certainly not something that we can accept. We will be making our views very clearly known and, in particular, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, will be doing so.

I thank the Senator again for raising this issue and I reiterate my heartfelt condolences to all of the family members on what is a very difficult but very important day for them today. I will do everything I can to ensure that this mechanism is in place by the summer and that An Garda can pass on the information that is required.