Brendan Smith demands access to British files on 1970s bombings

Like the other members, I welcome Margaret and Alan and compliment them on their ongoing work. We've had a lot of engagement over the years, particularly with Margaret and more latterly with Alan, and your work is very, very important. Could I just refer to the three all-parties, all motions that were passed here in 2008, 2011 and 2016, which called on the British Government to provide access for an independent international judicial person to all papers and files pertaining to the Dublin Monon bombings of 1974. And very importantly, those motions also requested access to the papers relating to Dublin bombings of 1972. 1973, the bombing of Kay's Tavern in Dundalk, and the mother of Seamus Ludlow outside Dundalk as well. And Margaret, you in your initial comments referred to the fact that people are getting older and that sadly, family members have been passing away. Could I just take the opportunity to pass on to the Ludlow family my sincere sympathy on the passing of Kevin, a brother of Seamus quite recently. Absolutely. And many, many conversations I had with Kevin over the years, and it was always a matter of serious grief to him and all his families that they never got the truth in relation to the mother or the beloved brother. And it's so right, the age profile of the persons, the family members who haven't seen truth or justice in relation to the heinous crimes inflicted on family members. It has to be a matter of serious concern to all of us. And could I just say that again, it's deplorable that the British government continue to ignore the sovereign requests of the requests of a sovereign state of our sovereign parliament, but they don't even reply to the request to give access to those papers to an independent, internationally legal person. And I have to say, as a person who spoke on each of those motions when they were before this House in 2008, 2011, 2016, they were very comprehensive motions and they were very reasonable. It was putting forward the case again to get access to papers so that people could get information and hopefully get to the truth. And again, it's an issue maybe we should discuss, I don't know whether publicly or in private, do we need to renew such a motion at this particular time, or maybe there's a more timely time to have a motion. I don't know, but I'm sure all parties and all groupings in this House would willingly support an appropriate motion, basically along the lines that we passed unanimously in the past. Could I also just refer to the Bell Torbott bombings of December 1972, sadly, Geraldine O'Reilly from Bell Torbott and Patrick Stanley from Clara County Offaly were killed on that night at the end of December 1972. We'd soon be reaching the 49th anniversary of that heinous crime. And again, nobody has been brought to justice. Could I just again refer to the work of Professor Edmund Burke of the University of Nottingham, who through his research and going through British state papers, uncovered very, very clearly that there was collusion between state forces and the UVF in relation to the bringing of that bomb to Bell Torbott on that night. And that information became available to me, I put it on the record of the Dáil in September 2020, subsequently the documentary on RTE carried that information. But I just want to commend the work of Professor Burke and his colleagues in the University of Nottingham. After I put that information on the record of the Dáil, the Minister of Justice, Minister McAtee, referred the information that I had put on the record to the Guarantee authorities for them to pursue. Now, the last reply I had on that matter was that the Guarantee were still investigating this issue. But again, it's not getting easier as every day goes by. But I would be very anxious, as well as others, that the atrocity in Bell Torbott would be kept foremost in the inquiries that need to be continued as well. Could I also say, Margaret, you referred to the civil court case that's going on in Belfast. What's the import and the importance of that particular case? And what are you hoping to achieve through that particular court case? Thank you, Oka Heerley. But could I just say also, the British grand notion of a statute of limitations, which is an amnesty for murderers and criminals, be they state forces, paramilitaries, is totally unacceptable. And I think that has been reinforced here strongly by the government, by the Taoiseach, the Minister of Foreign Affairs as well. And it's a clear message that that's not acceptable and that that shuts down, that won't shut down forever any possible avenue to truth and justice for families and for families of victims and for victims as well. And it's utterly deplorable that any government could entertain the idea of introducing such a mechanism to shut off all inquiries or all avenues that might lead to truth and justice. We're all very well aware that a lot of the terrible, heinous crimes that we're talking about were committed almost half a century ago. And it'll never be easy to get the truth and to get justice for families. But the idea of ever shutting off entirely any possibility of reaching the truth or justice is utterly deplorable. And that's the message that we as an Oireachtas will continue to make very, very clear to the British government and the British authorities. Thank you. Thank you, Brandon. Thank you, Brandon.