merrion street

The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore, TD, spoke today to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers MP, following her announcement that the British government will not appoint a Hillsborough-style panel to review the Ballymurphy cases.

Following his conversation with the Secretary of State, the Tánaiste said:

"I made clear to the Secretary of State that the Irish Government is disappointed by the Secretary of State’s decision not to establish a review panel to investigate the events which took place in Ballymurphy in August 1971 and in which eleven people died. The families have been waiting forty-three years for an independent account of what happened to their loved ones. This is too long.

"The British Government and the Irish Government are agreed about the importance of addressing the needs of all victims. This means that incidents such as Ballymurphy and other cases of deaths where State forces were, or may have been, involved need to be dealt with in a way and within a timescale that meets international human rights standards."