Brendan Smith presses for truth on Dublin Monaghan, Belturban bombings

First of all, Cathaoirleach, I welcome the Minister's continued engagement with this committee and his remarks here this morning. I have to say that the engagement we had with the Ballymorphe families, there was that such palpable sense of relief when the coroner's verdict was announced and the outcome of that inquest which showed very clearly that 10 people were shot dead, innocent people in that massacre, entirely innocent people and these issues need to be addressed with the utmost urgency and I fully appreciate that it's not straightforward unfortunately. Minister you stated that every family must have access to truth and justice and you know there are so many families throughout this island who have been denied truth and have been denied justice but I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach in his recent bilateral meeting with Mr Johnston that he confirmed that a number of legacy issues including atrocities committed in my own constituency and constituency and constituency that they were raised with Mr Johnston that they were raised with Mr Johnston and I also welcome the fact that you confirmed that these issues were also discussed at the recent British Irish Intergovernmental Conference and you stated very very importantly Minister that victims and survivors that they are central to all these discussions and that intense engagement is needed if we are to achieve true reconciliation. Minister two of the you would have heard me on many occasions both on many occasions both on many occasions both at committee and at question time and other debates in the Taoiseach talk about some of the atrocities that impacted on my own immediate home area that are almost half a century ago. The bombing in Belturban in December 1972 and the Monaghan Dublin bombings in May 1974 and unfortunately nobody's been brought to justice for any of those heinous crimes. Minister as you know Minister as you know our Dáil and Oireachtas on three occasions in 2008, 2011, 2016 passed unanimously very well crafted motions very crafted very responsibly where we called on the British government to give access to all papers and files pertaining to the Dublin Manon bombings to give access to an independent and eminent international legal person. Now over the course of the last Dáil a support group here in the Oireachtas for the Dublin Monaghan families particularly former Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan Deputy Sean Crow and myself had a lot of contact with your department and we appreciate that access we had in relation to those particular atrocities and we the department kept us updated on literally what was the was not happening in relation to those unanimous requests that were from our Oireachtas. Maybe Minister you could update us if the British have indicated in any way that they will respond to those motions passed unanimously by our sovereign parliament because we know of the Glenarran gang there's plenty of evidence there both if from state papers in Britain in relation to these atrocities and quite recently and quite recently I put on the record of the Dáil information that had come to me from the University of Nottingham in relation to collusion in Northern Ireland in relation to the bombing in Belturban in December 1972. There's irrefutable evidence there. So Minister we all know that the age cohort of a lot of siblings particularly parents of people who were victims of those atrocities they are very concerned that everybody's getting older the truth has not been established and I know that all of the families and I know that all of the families and I've campaigned with many of them in my own constituency campaign to try to get the truth to get their voices listened to and Minister you quite rightly stated families cannot continue to wait. Unfortunately they've waited for decades and decades and decades and decades and no sign of the truth. If they're not. If they're not. If they're serious about having a further instalment of the Stormont House agreement by giving some indication in relation to the request of our parliament to give access to all the papers pertaining to Dublin Man and Bombings to an independent international legal person and you might give us some update on that if that's possible. And also one other thing and over recent days members of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly we had an engagement with the British ambassador and you know one of the British ambassador and you know one of the points that I and other colleagues raise was the need to try to keep families updated on what's happening or not happening. I know many in many instances families survivors of or people who had lost loved ones family members that they weren't so well. So I think it's important if this process is important if this process is to be intensified and if we're to make any of the much needed progress that that that's needed. That families have to be continually updated on what efforts governments and departments and statutory agencies what efforts they're pursuing to try to get the truth and try to get justice for these families. It's an issue that I believe needs to be treated with the utmost urgency. Thank you. Heerlich.