Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I and all Members of the Independent Group join in offering sympathies to Ms Doody. I have lost siblings and it is very difficult to live with. My heart goes out to her and I ask that this be conveyed to her.

On 29 May 1962, the LÉ Clíona, while participating in an annual exercise south of Roche's Point in County Cork and firing patterns of depth charges, suffered a premature explosion from a charge. The ship went on fire and able stoker Mr. William Mynes cut off the fuel supply in order to save the ship. Mr. Mynes suffered severe burns and had to be ordered to leave the fire. It was then tackled by Lieutenant Pat O'Mahony, or Ó Mathúna, and between the two of them, they saved the ship. They have received nothing, not so much as a "thank you". This is not a political issue but relates to the Defence Forces themselves. The time has come for the Chief of Staff to convene a board that will go back to 1922 and work forward, looking at every act that has ever taken place. The Niemba massacre was not honoured until 1998 after the Air Corps Dauphin helicopter crashed in Waterford. The men of Niemba were killed in 1960 and it took all that time to issue the military star. There was no question of distinguished service or military medals for gallantry. What kind of country cannot honour people who do things like this? The LÉ Clíona and the entire crew would have been lost but for those people.

This brings me on to another gentlemen who has given me permission to use his name, Mr. Seán O'Brien, a prison officer in Portlaoise Prison. During a prison escape, Mr. O'Brien was caught in crossfire. He contacted me and I could do very little for him so he prepared a protected disclosure which he sent to me. I sent it to the Office of the Taoiseach on 11 July 2019 and it has still not been dealt with. I have read some of the information Mr. O'Brien sent to me. I am in no position to adjudicate on who was right and who was wrong but the man is entitled to an answer. What it is about us that work on the basis that if we leave a matter long enough, people will die or go away and never get an answer? They are entitled to answers. They are citizens of this country. The coverage of the events on the LÉ Clíonathis morning breaks my heart. We have the cases of the LÉ Clíona, Niemba, the Jadotville issue, Dick O'Hanlon in Galway and his three colleagues and so on. Billy Kedian from Galway threw himself on a mortar bomb to save his colleagues and received not so much as a "thank you".