I issue a fíor fáilte do na daoine ó Limerick West and Croom Active Retirement Association. They are very welcome to the Dáil.
Sentiment score: 0.46
You might get a pass.
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Go raibh maith agat.
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We will.
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I too am glad to speak on the Kenova report. I compliment the people who researched and presented it. We have had a long history here as well as in the North of Ireland and the UK. We are not so squeaky clean here. I compliment the Minister. Since he came into the Department of justice, he seems to have been making stellar efforts to have a more hands-on, open, honest and transparent approach, which is badly needed. The Sean Brown case was mentioned, which was so sad because Sean Brown, to everybody's knowledge, had nothing to do with any political party but was a GAA man through and through. He was out locking up his GAA club, as many volunteers across the Thirty-two Counties do. It is our national game. He was so cruelly executed. If we have legislation here as a result of this or in the future, we cannot possibly have a situation like that under the UK legislation, which gives the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a veto on what can be debated, discussed or raised. That cannot happen. We know there is a murky past since the time of the War of Independence and Civil War, and indeed long before that. One could go back to the Famine. There are all these cases. I think of The Miami Showband. Some of them were from Carrick-on-Suir in my own constituency. There was a vicious assassination attempt on a group that was giving entertainment to all people. I have been in Donaghmore in Tyrone many times. Deputy Currie mentioned her own case there. That should be sorted. There are too many cases where too much trauma and anguish have been bestowed on families. I remember a case in Aughnacloy involving another young man who was just going to work in a town in Monaghan walking through a checkpoint. The name eludes me but the story told was that a British soldier's rifle slipped because it was a wet day and the bullet ricocheted off the ground. This was an absurd lie. A gentleman worked with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law in a meat factory in Monaghan at the time and was harassed every day going up and down through the Border point at Aughnacloy. I passed through that Border point hundreds of times myself. It has affected so many others as well. There is also the case of the Dublin-Monaghan bombs and the Glenanne gang. I happened to be in Dublin on that particular day on a school tour. That was a scary event. There has been no truth on that either. The Omagh bombing, on which the Minister and I differed in opinion a number of times, was an atrocity. I was on my way to Omagh that day and I got there the morning after when there such devastation. I worked closely with Michael Gallagher and others over the years and they are fighting for justice as well. I know the Minister has moved the case affecting Lucia Farrell on. It has nothing to do with paramilitarism but what happened to her son Shane, who went out for a cycle, was a travesty of injustice. The driver of that car and his accomplices had numerous custodial sentences hanging over them, were stopped at a Garda checkpoint and should not have been allowed to go on. We saw the battle that Lucia Farrell has had on her hands to try and get justice for her lovely son, who was swept away unceremoniously. I welcome a group from Coláiste Dún Iascaigh in Cahir to the Public Gallery. I hope they enjoy their trip to the Dáil and Dublin.
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That was a very interesting contribution. It is a good day to welcome the transition year students from Coláiste Dún Iascaigh in Cahir and their teachers Rachel Burke and Anne Hickey. They are very welcome and I hope they enjoy their visit.
Sentiment score: 0.68