I welcome the opportunity to speak on the recently published Kenova report. I pay tribute to Jon Boutcher, Iain Livingstone and the Operation Kenova team. Their work was victim-centred and groundbreaking. They have proven that an ECHR-compliant investigation into a Troubles-related incident is possible, despite decades of denial and obstruction by successive British Governments. I will speak to various issues raised by Kenova and will raise several questions for the Minister and the Taoiseach throughout my contribution. I will follow up in writing on those. Any discussion of the Kenova report and its operation must begin, as the report itself does, with the interests of victims, survivors and their families. I wish to offer the condolences of the Labour Party to all those injured, bereaved and affected by the atrocities committed during the Troubles. This is the report of victims and survivors. Their decades of pain must remain at the heart of this debate. Nothing can undo the suffering they have endured as a result of the bloodshed. Fully implementing the Kenova report's recommendations can, of course, help and begin to address the suffering. In exposing the activities of Freddie Scappaticci, or Stakeknife, the Kenova report offers clear evidence of collusion and cover-up by the British state, resulting, as the report says, in more lives being lost than saved. Yet, we know that the British state has not fully accepted responsibility. Instead, we have heard vague regret, a blame game and an unspoken pact of silence that has left victims with half truths and justice denied. I welcome the fact that each of Government spokesperson has named Stakeknife as Freddie Scappaticci. We all know that he killed, abducted, tortured and maimed. He was, in effect, a serial killer who was protected and even paid by the British state to terrorise and murder within his own community. This was all done under the direction of the self-appointed, so-called army council of the Provisional IRA. I welcome the fact that we are naming him in this House. I also welcome the fact we are speaking openly about his activities. It is extraordinary that he was allowed to kill with impunity. He was resettled, financially rewarded, shielded from justice and protected to the end and beyond, extraordinarily to the same level as the British royal family in some instances, with even the publication of his will blocked, as the report makes clear. The handling of Stakeknife is a glaring example of British security elites' treatment of the Troubles as a conflict without rules, one where innocent lives did not matter and where the rule of law was breached. Operation Kenova did not just examine the collusion by the British state. The report also makes clear that the republican movement protected Freddie Scappaticci. His victims were silenced to protect the movement. The reality is that for them directing terrorism had nothing to do with political ideals, but everything to do with power, self-enrichment and the exercise of dominion over communities they claimed to defend. To this day, as the report makes clear, neither the IRA nor the republican leadership have issued an apology to the many victims of Freddie Scappaticci and the IRA's internal security unit. Operation Kenova recommended that the republican leadership apologise for the provisional IRA's abduction, torture and murder of those accused or suspected of being agents and that it acknowledge the harm and intimidation suffered by victims and bereaved families. The Taoiseach earlier called for Sinn Féin to make an apology in this vein. I support that call. Will the Government make time in the Dáil for such a statement to be made? It should be a clear and meaningful apology, specifically to the victims of the Provisional IRA's campaign and those killed as a result of Freddie Scappaticci's actions. This is not about partial truths; it is about full truth and honesty. I listened to the Sinn Féin leader. We need to hear full truth and honesty in this House when we are having a debate on a report as important as the Kenova report. This has a bearing on other cases too, as I think we are all aware. I raise by way of example the case of Denis Donaldson, which I have raised before in this House. While Scappaticci was shepherded to safety, by both his British and republican handlers, Donaldson was exposed and, of course, was murdered in Donegal in 2006. While his killing took place after the Good Friday Agreement came into place, it was clearly a Troubles-related incident. I reiterate my call for a cross-Border public inquiry into his killing. The Minister should advocate for the investigation of Mr. Donaldson's case and other cases that were barred by the Legacy Commission, notwithstanding that some incidents occurred outside of the timeline chosen. I want to move next to issues around MI5 and to its failure to disclose several files to Operation Kenova until after the investigative process had taken place. The absence of full disclosure has failed victims and their families, including those of Sean Brown and the disappeared. This clearly has a bearing, not just on the investigation that is reported, but on the legacy processes under construction today. On Tuesday next, I will be hosting Claire Hanna of the SDLP and a range of other speakers for a briefing on legacy issues and the legislation the Minister stated that we are going to be bringing through this House. I would welcome attendance by Members across the House. If the national security veto is used to conceal evidence of collusion or double standards, the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will fail. Does the Minister accept that the legacy commission should be liberated from the Northern Ireland Secretary of State's national security veto? Will the Government push for a public inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown and the restoration of all inquests? Can the Minister clarify the position regarding the managed late disclosure of files by MI5 to Operation Kenova? Operation Kenova did a lot to expose farcical, blanket application of the neither-confirm-nor-deny, NCND, policy adopted by the British Government in legacy-related cases. It is a tool that should be used to ensure confidence in intelligence policing, but it has been used to conceal collusion. We know it has be waived in the past. I commend the Chief Constable on his efforts in seeking a policy that is victim centred and transparent. Does the Irish Government believe that the British Government should review the policy of NCND in all legacy-related cases? On accountability, 29 files were sent by Operation Kenova to the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland but not a single prosecution has followed. I support the SDLP's call for independent counsel to review the files concerned. I would welcome the Minister's support in respect of that call. What next? There are many learnings to be had from the Operation Kenova investigation. John Boutcher created new structures for how we can inquire into the past and investigate harms, injustices and murders committed in the past. Operation Kenova demonstrated an admirable rigour. We must ensure now that other tragedies such as the Omagh and the Dublin-Monaghan bombings are investigated with the same rigour. I agree that it is deeply regrettable that the Denton report has not been published in full. We need to ensure that independence is at the heart of all investigative work. I have submitted parliamentary questions on issues around the operation of the Garda legacy unit. Can the Minister outline what independent oversight will be put in place with its operation? Operation Kenova made real testimony central to its work. The Minister recognises the importance of the family reports delivered by Operation Kenova. Will the Garda legacy unit adopt the same methods? Indeed, Operation Kenova saw real accountability. In that context, will the Minister make a statement on the Government's position regarding further protection of veterans, as signalled by Hilary Benn as part of the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill? The Kenova report tells a story about the worst of a state that signally breached the rule of law and engaged in appalling collusion and cover-up. The British state was meant to protect individuals. However, we saw instead the loss of lives that the state was meant to guarantee. Ultimately, the Kenova report is about ensuring there is confidence in the rule of law, because the activities of the British state and the activities of paramilitary organisations undermined the rule of law and human rights protections. We need to look at the impact of that undermining. We see the consequences, which are evident in the absence of faith in institutions now. Three decades on from the ceasefire, 25 years since its establishment and nearly 30 years since the Good Friday Agreement, Catholic recruitment to the PSNI has not reached 30%. Recruitment levels in some Border countries are in the low single figures. In that vacuum, suspicion and division are entrenched. We can see the possible and real consequences that would result from a Farage premiership in Britain in the future for our island, for the peace process and for the Good Friday Agreement. Failure to implement the Kenova report's recommendations will erode trust further. Failure to implement a truly honest and robust legacy framework will do the same. Dealing with our past is not limited to any one piece of legislation or to the outworkings of the joint framework. It must permeate the tone of our politics and how our communities interact across the island. As a Connollyite republican, I aspire to see a united Ireland, as the Labour Party does, but I enunciate that position from a place of understanding that there are those who do not agree. We must work to ensure that we can build a consensus across the island to deliver the shared island that most of us in this House aspire to. As stated, on Tuesday next I will host a briefing in the Oireachtas on the legacy legislation. I would be glad to welcome the Minister, other Ministers and colleagues from across the House to come and hear from the SDLP, the ICCL, the CAJ and Amnesty International as to what the legacy framework can and must mean. In seeking to secure a shared future on this island, we cannot miss the opportunity to deal properly and robustly with our past. To victims and survivors of the Troubles, I say this: the Labour Party is committed to dealing fairly with the past, to truth - not selective truth or partial truth - to accountability and to justice and to legacy mechanisms which meet standards under the European Convention on Human Rights. No individual can be placed beyond the reach of the courts. This is about people who have been hurt, who have suffered and who have been bereaved. Their right to truth and justice is absolute, not partial or selective. The Kenova report tells us how we can honour the rights of victims to truth and justice. We in this House have a duty to abide by that and learn from the principles of and the recommendations contained in this report.

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