In recent Parliamentary Questions I raised again with An Taoiseach and with An Tánaiste the need to raise with the British Prime Minister and with other Members of the new government the urgent need for full co-operation with comprehensive investigations into atrocities including the Belturbet, Monaghan and Dublin bombings.
Fianna Fáil TD Brendan Smith has reiterated his call for the British Government and the authorities in Northern Ireland to cooperate fully with the investigations into the Dublin-Monaghan and Belturbet bombings.
The Cavan-Monaghan TD raised the issued again in the Dáil last week following commemorations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings when 34 people were killed and 300 injured.
“The Oireachtas has requested the British Government to co-operate with a full investigation by giving access to all papers to an independent, eminent, international legal person to ensure those investigations can be advanced,” he said. “There is clear evidence of collusion between the Glenanne gang and British intelligence. We have to make progress on these investigations.”
Deputy Smith called on the Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin to ensure that legacy issues are on the agenda when he holds meetings with the new Foreign Secretary after the British election on July 4, adding that the British legacy legislation needs to be urgently repealed.
“It is more than 50 years ago now that these atrocities were carried out,” Deputy Smith said. “We have to get the truth established. There is a moral, international, legal obligation on the British Government to co-operate with investigations. I would also like the Tánaiste to insist to the British Government and the Northern Ireland authorities that there must be full co-operation with the Garda investigation into the Belturbet bombing of December 1972, in which two young teenagers, Geraldine O’Reilly and Patrick Stanley, were killed. There were horrific incidents that night, on 27 December 1972, in Clones and Pettigo as well.
“We need full co-operation by the Northern Irish authorities and the British authorities in the full and comprehensive investigations into those bloody atrocities, which cost the lives of innocent people.”
Tánaiste Micheál Martin, in response, said the Dáil had unanimously supported a fourth motion called on the British Government to give access to all original documents relating to these atrocities and he informed Deputy Smith that he would stand ready to engage a new Government in Britain and to “press these issues and get a resolution to them”.
The Tánaiste said: “I hope that with the new British Government we will be able to revisit the legacy Act because the Operation Kenova report points in the right direction. It is a hugely significant report. It underlines the need for a comprehensive, collective and victim-centred approach to legacy issues and places a strong emphasis on the importance of the European Convention on Human Rights as a safeguard of the Good Friday Agreement.”
Dáil Éireann debate – Wednesday, 10 Jul 2024
Ceisteanna – Questions
British-Irish Co-operation
Deputy Brendan Smith
I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. The last time we discussed Northern Ireland here, I referred to the his attendance and participation at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly plenary meeting in Wicklow. One of the issues that I raised, which I said was a message from British members, was that they wanted more senior members of the British Government to participate in the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference and the British-Irish Council. The Taoiseach mentioned in some of his weekend interviews that he looks forward to more regular meetings at a bilateral level with the British Prime Minister and similarly with ministers at a bilateral level too, in view of the fact that we do not have the prevalence and frequency of meetings that existed in the past when Britain was a member of the European Union. As I said earlier, that was a message from members of both the Conservative Party and British Labour Party at the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly over the years. We sincerely hope there will be that opportunity with the new government. Some members of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly have been appointed to government in Britain and I wish them well.
One issue that we have to keep on the agenda is the need to repeal the legacy legislation. In implementing the potential of the Good Friday Agreement, we have to have legacy issues dealt with. In dealing with legacy issues, the policy must be victim centred. The legacy Bill as enacted by the British Parliament and put into law is actually perpetrator centred. It gives amnesty to murderers from the British state forces and from the paramilitary organisations. We need progress in investigations into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Belturbet bombing, and many other atrocities which were carried out. We have never established the truth of who carried out those heinous crimes.
I thank Deputy Brendan Smith for the point he made today and has made on a number of occasions about the importance of the opportunity for Ireland and Britain to engage at a senior level. In my initial conversation with the Prime Minister, we spoke about the importance of getting the structure for engagement right, for the very reasons the Deputy said. It used to happen almost automatically that whoever the Taoiseach was would meet the British Prime Minister by virtue of our membership of the European Union. You would meet at European Council meetings and other events surrounding membership of the European Union. That stopped and now we need to find another mechanism or, as the Deputy suggested, determine how the mechanisms already in place North-South and east-west under the Good Friday Agreement can be harnessed. That may be the British-Irish Council with senior attendance or, as the Deputy said, senior individuals in the British Government attending the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. It is not for me to be prescriptive but if the Prime Minister and I can come to an understanding as to what that structured engagement looks like, much good will flow from that. We are all in politics; we all know that challenge emerges from a lack of dialogue and that issues can become more entrenched if there are no formats to talk person-to-person, counterpart-to-counterpart. I appreciate that the Prime Minister phoned me on his first day in office and has invited me to Downing Street next week. I take that as a good signal of his commitment to a reset in Anglo-Irish relations, which we need.
A number of people mentioned legacy. The Irish Government’s position is clear; I think it is shared across this House. We do not support the legacy Act in any manner or means. We found ourselves having to launch an inter-state case. Not much unites all political parties in Northern Ireland; this has. I want to talk to the British Prime Minister about legacy and I am sure he will want to talk to us about it as well. He made commitments in his party’s manifesto, which I welcome. I will not be prescriptive because I want to have that dialogue directly with the Prime Minister. There are some principles the Irish Government has. First, it has to be victim-centred. Second, the Northern Ireland Executive and parties in Northern Ireland need to have a role. It has to comply with the Good Friday Agreement and its processes. It has to be human rights-compliant as well.
On the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the issue raised by Deputies Ó Murchú, Boyd Barrett and Smith, I was honoured on 17 May to attend a commemorative event to mark the 50th anniversary of the bombings and to meet some of the families of victims and survivors. It is important to recall that the investigation into the bombings remains an open case in this jurisdiction. The Garda has assisted the authorities in Northern Ireland in their investigations. Legislation was passed to enable cross-Border co-operation with Operation Denton. I understand the Tánaiste recently received correspondence but the fact is the Garda continues to work with the police ombudsman as it proceeds with its wide-ranging work.