Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Relatives' organisations across Ireland, Members of this Chamber and the Dáil, the Irish Government, all the political parties in the North, the British Labour Party, representatives across the EU and the US, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and other human rights organisations are united in their opposition to the British Government's Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill of shame. Yet, that Bill is now law, passed by the most self-serving, disreputable group of charlatans ever to be at Westminster. It brazenly grants an amnesty to those members of the British crown forces who killed hundreds of people in the conflict. It arrogantly denies truth and justice to thousands of broken-hearted relatives who lost loved ones at the hands of the British crown forces. It legally covers up these killings which the British Government had illegally been covering up for decades. The man responsible for this infamy, Lord Caine, will be in this Parliament tomorrow, at a meeting of the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. Lord Caine is the architect, apologist, arm-twister lobbyist and the mendacious advocate for this inhuman piece of legislation. He, his Government and their Bill are an affront to the grieving and forlorn relatives. His presence is an insult to the elected representatives of the Oireachtas and to the people of Ireland. No good will be served to anyone, especially those relatives whose loved ones were killed by the British crown forces, by his presence. We have heard his pathetic attempts to defend the Bill of shame outside the precincts of Westminster. Few, if any, in this institutions are interested in listening to the well-practiced and rehearsed mealy-mouth platitudes from Lord Caine on behalf of killers in the pay of the British Government. Our thoughts are with the relatives of those who were murdered by the crown forces and the decades-long devastation caused to families by the British Government's refusal to tell the truth. The message Lord Caine should leave the Oireachtas with, as he closes the door behind him tomorrow, is that the Irish Government will see him, his Government and his Bill in the European Court of Human rights. I call for an urgent debate on that issue.