Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second the motion. I thank the Minister for being here this evening. I also thank the many family members of the disappeared, who are here with us this evening, for their relentless, courage, composure and dignity. I acknowledge the incredible work of WAVE Trauma Centre, which has provided care and support for people affected by the Troubles for more than 30 years.

It is with a really heavy heart that we gather to remember the people who are known as "the disappeared". These were individuals who were murdered during the Troubles, and their bodies were hidden and destroyed so that their families could not properly mourn their loss, with the goal being to inflict more pain, and more control over the families and communities.

I am personally honoured to be a co-sponsor of this evening's motion. It is a great privilege to contribute to another important and poignant discussion on the deep, dark legacy that besets all of us on this island. It is very important that we do not stop discussing these issue. The more we highlight the plain fact that there is information out there that could give peace to families or give a person a decent burial, the more chance that someone will look to their conscience and speak up. We have a desperate, ruthless, painful past that continues to affect us all, a culture of not speaking up for fear of reprisal. We must end that culture.

The disappearing of individuals must be one of the cruellest acts anyone could commit against a family. It is the families who continue to live with the pain: who suffer, yearn and long for the return of their loved ones' bodies each day. It is difficult to imagine the pain and the suffering the families experienced. For years, they were left without answers, closure, or the chance to say goodbye. The agony of not knowing what had happened to their loved ones must be just unbearable. It is many years after the Troubles ended, 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement, and decades after these people were murdered, but people are still living with the trauma of not knowing.

I live only a few miles away from Shelling Hill where Jean McConville was buried. I go there with my children - as I have done all my life. It is a beautiful place, with the Cooley Mountains in the background and the open sea in front, with the happiness of children playing, families together and the normality of life. When one thinks about it: it is sick. Every time I go there, I think of the McConville family. I think of a mammy who was torn from her babies. I am very grateful to her son, Michael, who is in the Visitors Gallery, for taking time today to speak to me. It was not enough that she was taken from them, and they were left without parents, the IRA spent the days, weeks, months, and years after torturing that family with lies, abuse and the torment of not knowing.

Five bodies of the disappeared remain today in unmarked graves. There are still families awaiting closure. We all hope for peace and reconciliation. This is a very commonly used phrase. How can we reconcile when the location of victims' bodies is still unknown? We know where the answers lie and we as a State have a responsibility to make it as simple as possible for those with information to give it up. I urge the Minister to meet with the families of the disappeared, which I am sure he will do, to get advice from them, to create a path forward to find the bodies and the truth.

This is not a Six Counties problem; it is this State's problem. The bodies are not buried in the North, they are buried here in the Republic. It is our responsibility to act without hesitancy to get these victims a proper, final burial place. Some might ask why this is important as it happened decades ago, the Troubles are over, and it is all in the past. However, that could not be further from the truth. It is the present that mothers are going to their grave without knowing where their children are. It matters because human life, dignity, respect, and the basic decency of a Christian burial matters. With the loss of a loved one, the ritual of mourning, the tradition of the wake, the carrying of a coffin, and the physical solidarity of standing shoulder to shoulder with someone all help with the healing. You never get over the loss of a loved one, you just learn to walk with that grief. You go to the graveside. You have a conversation with them and you tell them what you are up to. You regale them with stories of what happens in your life. These families were denied all of that, and that is why it matters. That is why the people who know something - even the smallest detail - must speak up. They should not take these families' trauma and the truth to their grave.

Time is running out. The commission has proven that with the right information it does get results. I urge the Minister to put a renewed emphasis on this issue within his Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and within the Garda Síochána, because these families deserve peace.