Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In answer to Senator Wilson's rhetorical question, I do not think any of us can imagine the ongoing pain, grief and trauma the families have been put through. I feel humbled to be here this evening on behalf of the Government and in my role as Minister for Justice to respond to this important and timely debate. I join colleagues in the Seanad in welcoming the families and the representatives of the WAVE Trauma Centre. I look forward to taking up the offer to engage and meet with them and to see how we can support them in trying to progress this matter. We certainly will put those arrangements in place. I am conscious of speaking of and about their loved ones in front of them but I thank them for joining us here.

I thank Senators Blaney and McGreehan for bringing forward this motion. It could not come at a more appropriate time, which I will comment on further presently. I share Senator Wilson's wish that it was not necessary to debate this motion but, for the reasons Senator Currie and others outlined, it is necessary. It is important that we continue to keep a visibility around and a focus on this issue and that we take the opportunity of debating this motion to accept the challenge to renew, redouble and recommit our efforts to bringing some small element of comfort, peace and closure to the families who have been through so much. The Government will support the passage of the motion through the House. At its core, it is a motion about victims and their families. As I said, it is about bringing a small measure of comfort and some important closure to the families of the disappeared, who have long suffered a particular cruelty. They have faced not just the tragedy, injustice and pain of losing a loved one to murder but also not knowing for decades where that loved one was buried. Those responsible took a loved one in brutal circumstances and then compounded that pain, grief and cruelty by depriving the family of the remains, a funeral and the tradition of grief and closure one goes through after a period of loss.

As we approach the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and the commitments that were made in that agreement to those who suffered such personal and profound loss, it is right that those victims remain to the fore in our minds. As we look back, as we no doubt will, in commemorating 25 years of peace on the island of Ireland and the peace agreement, we should remember the commitments that were made in writing and also in spirit as to how the agreement would move us forward and try to bring about healing and reconciliation. The Good Friday Agreement specifically provided that it was essential to acknowledge and address the suffering of the victims of violence as a necessary element of reconciliation.

The establishment by both the UK and Irish Governments of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains, ICLVR, in 1999 was one of a key set of actions taken by the Governments in fulfilling and advancing that commitment. As colleagues know, the ICLVR is responsible for facilitating the location of the remains of victims of paramilitary violence who were murdered and secretly buried before 10 April 1998 as a result of acts committed on behalf of, or in connection with, an unlawful organisation. The date of 10 April 1998 was considered appropriate as it was the date of signing of the Good Friday Agreement. The role of the ICLVR is purely humanitarian and victims are at the centre of its work. The overriding priority for the commission is to return the remains of the victims to their families in order that they can receive a decent burial and that the families may, in some measure at least, achieve resolution or closure in regard to their loss.

The suffering of the families of the disappeared is almost unimaginable. Their loved ones were abducted, murdered and secretly buried. For years and decades, these families have struggled with the pain and trauma of not knowing what happened to their loved one and of grieving while not knowing where they are buried. The ICLVR is independent in the performance of its functions. Confidentiality in respect of the information provided to the commission is fundamental to its work because it relies on information to pursue its investigations. The commission continues to promote the plight of the families of the disappeared and to call on those with information to come forward, via regular press statements, media appearances and other efforts to continue to keep a focus on the issue.We join with it this evening in echoing the call for anyone with even a shred of information, no matter how small, to come forward. In November 2021, the commission appeared before the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and welcomed the unanimous support. I, too, welcome the unanimous support for its work expressed by that committee.

The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains, ICLVR, has been a highly successful cross-Border legacy institution. It is important that we recognise that. It is a concrete demonstration of commitment to the families of the disappeared and the victims of the Troubles. The commission through its work has recovered the remains of some and others, sadly, still remain to be found, namely, Joseph Lynskey, Columba McVeigh, Robert Nairac and Seamus Maguire.

Seamus Maguire is the most recent addition to the list of disappeared. On the basis of information received by the PSNI, he was added to the list in February 2022. He was approximately 26 years old when he disappeared from the Lurgan area of County Armagh in the 1970s. Joe Lynskey was from Belfast and disappeared in the summer of 1972. The ICLVR began conducting excavations at a site in County Meath in March 2015. That search uncovered the remains of Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee. The search continues for Joe. Columba McVeigh from Donaghmore in County Tyrone was just 17 years old when he was abducted and killed in October 1975. He had been working in Dublin and had only returned to Northern Ireland a few days earlier. Numerous searches have taken place at Bragan bog in County Monaghan, but his remains have yet to be recovered. The most recent search began in October of last year and while it is currently paused, it is due to restart shortly. Let us all hope beyond hope that this search will be successful and finally bring some comfort to his sister Dympna and brother Oliver who continue to raise his case and seek any information that might locate their brother. Captain Robert Nairac was an officer in the Grenadier Guards and was on a tour of duty in Northern Ireland when he was abducted and murdered in County Armagh in May 1977. He was 29 years old. His remains have yet to be recovered.

The commission, with the support of the Irish and British Governments, continues to work tirelessly on behalf of families of the disappeared and is committed to completing its task of locating the remains of those who have yet to be found. This motion calls on those with information to bring that information forward. I ask anyone with information that could help recover the remains of those yet to be found to contact the commission. Commission investigations can be complicated and difficult. Information from the public is crucial to its work. It is important that persons who may have relevant information but may be reluctant to share with the commission know that confidentiality is assured, and that the confidentiality rule has always been strictly observed. A key feature of the governing legislation in Ireland and the UK is that it legally guarantees that any information given to the commission must be treated as absolutely confidential and can only be used for the sole purpose of locating remains. If an individual makes a statement or provides information as to his or her involvement or knowledge of the disappearance, killing or burial of an individual to the commission, that statement or information should not be admissible by the prosecution in a criminal process. This is further underpinned by provisions providing for restrictions on disclosure of information and restrictions on the forensic testing of human and other items that may be found. I say that to really encourage anyone with information to know that they can and should come forward.

The ICLVR has no remit beyond these Troubles-related killings and secret burials that occurred prior to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. There are, of course, other cases where families have had to suffer the cruelty of a family member's disappearance. The Senators in their motion include the two tragic cases of Lisa Dorrian, who disappeared in 2005, and Gareth O'Connor, who disappeared in 2003. Lisa's remains are yet to be recovered. I implore anyone who has information relating to her disappearance to bring that forward to the authorities in Northern Ireland to assist.

It is also the case that there remains a larger group of missing persons in Ireland. Every year, my Department organises an annual all-island ceremony to mark National Missing Persons Day. The tenth such ceremony was held in Croke Park last December and was hosted by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne. This is a ceremony to provide an opportunity for people to come together to commemorate and remember their missing loved ones. It is more than that, however. It is also a platform to appeal to the public for information on missing persons. We use that opportunity each year to promote the work of the ICLVR. Those with information have an opportunity and an obligation to ease the pain of the families who have suffered so much for so long.

The Good Friday Agreement says that we can best honour those who died or were injured and their families through a firm dedication to "reconciliation, tolerance, and mutual trust, and to the protection and vindication of the human rights of all." This has framed our Government's approach to the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland. The needs of victims must be core and all relevant human rights obligations must be met. Dealing effectively with the past will allow the achievement of a more reconciled society.

In the Stormont House Agreement of 2014, the two Governments and most assembly parties agreed a way forward on legacy that would meet the needs of victims, uphold human rights and contribute to reconciliation. This approach was endorsed by both Governments as a fresh start and the New Decade, New Approach agreement was published as recently as 2020. In May 2022, however, with the publication of its Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, regrettably, the UK Government decided to move away from the Stormont House Agreement and take a unilateral approach to dealing with the past. This Bill faces almost universal opposition. It does not have the support of any political party in Northern Ireland or of victims' groups. Enactment in its current form risks severely damaging trust and setting back reconciliation efforts. Since the publication of that Bill, the Council of Europe has on four occasions, in June, September and December of 2022, and again this month, expressed its serious concerns about the Bill and its comparability with the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK Government published amendments to the Bill in January and February. However, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, in its decision earlier this month, expressed the serious concern that those amendments do not sufficiently allay the concerns relating to the Bill.

Other major international human rights actors have also made their views known. We heard the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights express his concerns with the Bill, especially in the context of the immunity scheme, and his call on the UK to reconsider its approach. The UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights has been strongly critical of the Bill. Many families are upset by the publication and the progress of the Bill, including those waiting for inquests or pursuing civil litigation. There will be many that understandably feel that immunity, conditional or otherwise, may be more about protecting perpetrators instead of pursuing justice and getting to the truth in such cases. Every family deserves and is legally entitled to an effective investigation and access to justice for their loved one. This is a point my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, has repeatedly made to counterparts in the British Government, and we will continue to do so. We urge them to pause this legislation and return to a partnership approach on this vital issue that goes to the heart of the process of reconciliation. Victims need to be at the centre of any truth and reconciliation process. Their support and confidence in the process is essential to its success. While that is a broader point, I want to take the opportunity of this evening's motion to make that point.

I also want to take the opportunity Senator Currie has afforded me to remember the families of Paul Quinn and Robert McCartney and their ongoing quest for justice. They should know that we stand in solidarity with them as well. I repeat my call and that of the Government and the Oireachtas for anyone with information that could help recover the remains of those still missing to pass that information to the commission without delay, safe in the knowledge that it will be treated with the strictest confidence. The overriding priority for the Government and my Department when it comes to the disappeared is to return the remains of the victims to their families in order that they can receive a decent burial. This welcome motion seeks to bring about the conclusion and, therefore, the Government will support it.

As I said, I will also take up the offer of Senators Blaney and McGreehan to engage with the families to see how my Department and that of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Government and our authorities can further assist the families. Let us hope beyond hope that all those still missing can be reunited with their families.