I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Motion. Today we saw history
made, as a British Monarch travelled for the first time to an independent
Ireland. I had the privilege of greeting Queen Elizabeth in the Garden of
Remembrance and being present when she laid a wreath in memory of Irish
patriots who gave their lives to secure Irish freedom from Britain. It was
a sight that even a few years ago would have been unimaginable. It is
right to also acknowledge the powerful symbolism of our President and Queen
Elizabeth standing to attention as the Army Band played the National
Anthems of both our countries. The events of today are a poignant and
significant reminder of just how intertwined is the history of our two
countries.
I know that the vast majority of people in our State welcome Queen
Elizabeth and Prince Philip as our visitors and our guests and also welcome
the enormous changes that have taken place on this island. The spirit of
reconciliation and friendship can be starkly contrasted with the violent
and destructive conduct displayed by a small number of unrepresentative
and self appointed groups who wish to turn the clock back to a past no
reasonable or thinking person wishes to revisit. It is regrettable that
the threat posed by this small number of individuals who have no respect
for the democratic will of the Irish people required that a major security
operation be mounted for the protection of our distinguished visitors and
to ensure today’s events and those planned for the rest of this week occur
without disruption. I have little doubt that there are thousands of
Dubliners who would have preferred to be on our streets on this historic
day to welcome our visitors rather than have only the opportunity to view
the days events on their television screens. It is entirely unacceptable
that the threat posed by the conduct of a tiny minority prevented this
being possible.
In Dorset Street in Dublin this afternoon we witnessed thugs throwing
rocks, bottles and missiles at members of the Garda Síochána. An Garda
Síochána and our Defence Forces have also had to rapidly respond in recent
days to reports relating to various devices being placed in different
locations and to hoax bomb threats. I want in particular to put on record
my congratulations and my thanks to the Garda Commissioner and the Chief of
Staff and all of the members of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces
who have prepared for this historic occasion and with great competence and
dignity fulfilled their duty. I think all Members of this House should
express their pride in both An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces and in
the manner in which they have conducted themselves.
The subject of tonight’s debate is of course another reminder of the
tangled and tragic history of our two islands.
Thirty-seven years ago today, and just a few hundred yards from where we
speak, three bombs exploded as people around Dublin were making their way
home from work and looking forward to the weekend. Around ninety minutes
later another bomb exploded outside Greacen’s pub in Monaghan Town.
Thirty-three people lost their lives and an unborn baby was denied the
chance to live. Over a hundred people suffered injuries. The families who
were bereaved, and those who were injured, bear some scars which can be
seen but others which they have borne with quiet dignity since that day.
Thirty seven years have passed and in some cases the pain may have eased,
but it has not gone away. They still have questions about what happened to
their loved ones, about why it happened and how it happened. Other
families who lost relatives in other attacks in the years between 1972 and
1976 were also left with questions which remained unanswered.
As this House is aware, the painstaking and detailed work of the late Judge
Henry Barron provided the families with some of the answers they sought,
and a Joint Committee of the Oireachtas provided the families with an
opportunity to have their voices heard. Anyone who heard their accounts or
has read them since could not fail to be moved. A considerable amount of
light was shed on what happened but vital questions remain unanswered.
As this Motion recalls, in July 2008, this House unanimously urged the
British Government to allow access to documents. To date this has not
happened. I know that many Deputies in this House have raised this issue
with our counterparts in Westminster and that they will continue to do so.
Since this Government took office, the Tánaiste has raised the issue with
the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at their first meeting in
Dublin last month. The Taoiseach will also raise this matter with Prime
Minister Cameron tomorrow, as he has done in previous meetings.
Speaking in this House on 21 May 1974, the then Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave
said “nothing I can say will adequately describe the feelings of shock and
horror caused by the destruction of human life and hope.” Unfortunately
the shock and horror witnessed in Dublin and Monaghan on 17 May 1974 did
not start on that day and it did not end until 1998. Too many families
across this island and in Britain suffered the loss of a loved one. Over
three thousand six hundred people’s lives were cut short. Many tens of
thousands more suffered injuries. In 1998, in referenda, North and South,
on the Good Friday Agreement, the overwhelming majority of the people who
share this island said loudly and clearly that the violence had to stop.
They said that no other families should suffer the pain and misery of
losing a loved one.
Dealing with the legacy of the past is not an easy task, no simple formula
of words can put things right. Families from all sectors of the community
in this island and in Britain suffered loss. Many families still have
questions that they want answered. Mechanisms are currently in operation
in the North which are attempting to provide some of these answers for
families but we must be aware that no single mechanism or solution will be
acceptable or effective for all families. This Government recommits itself
to working with our partners in the British Government and with our
colleagues in the newly constituted Northern Ireland Executive to address
the legacy of the Troubles. It will not be easy, nor quick, but it is a
challenge that we must and do accept.
This week’s visit of the Head of State of our nearest neighbour is an
historic occasion. Let me say clearly, on behalf of the Government and the
great majority of the Irish people, how very welcome she is.
It would be wrong to imagine that the huge symbolism of today’s wreath
laying ceremony in the Garden of Remembrance and tomorrow’s ceremony at
Islandbridge can dispel completely the complex legacy of the troubles.
Indeed the party who sought to raise this matter in Private Members'
business tonight will know more than most that the bitterness which still
lingers at many of the deadly activities which the Provisional IRA engaged
in is unlikely to be dispelled in some cases for generations. It is easy
for us to advocate reconciliation and forgiveness but the pain of the
bereaved has understandably in some cases made a
stone of the heart. And
then there are concerns too about the behaviour of other parties to the
conflict which are reflected in the motion here tonight, in particular
concerns that the full truth behind horrific events has not been fully
established.
As we move forward to a better future for all the people who share this
island and those who live on the neighbouring island, we will not forget
those who died, those who were injured, those who mourn them. In the Good
Friday Agreement, we recognised that “victims have a right to remember as
well as to contribute to a changed society.” As members of this House, we
have a duty to remember. In that remembering of those who died, in our
recognition of those who mourn, we have a duty to continue to contribute to
a changed society. This visit is a contribution to that changed society.
Last month we saw the family and friends of a young police officer, Ronan
Kerr, mourning the loss of a cherished son and brother. The Taoiseach met
with Ronan’s mother Nuala and extended the heartfelt sympathy of all of us.
The funeral cortege showed the world images of a new reality in Northern
Ireland. GAA members bore the coffin of a fellow player and passed it on
to his fellow police officers. The dignified but harrowing pictures of the
family as they dealt with their loss were difficult to watch but important
to see.
In their invitation to members of the public to join them at their annual
wreath-laying ceremony at the Memorial on Talbot Street, the families of
those who were killed thirty seven years ago asked that no flags, banners
or emblems be displayed. I believe that they wish their fellow citizens to
join them in quiet remembrance of thirty four lives lost, not to make a
political statement but to show that those lives are not forgotten. That
their pain is recognised. That their story is heard. On that monument,
names are carved in stone for all to see but the pain that the families
bear is not always so visible.
In the Good Friday Agreement, all the participants recognised that “the
achievement of a peaceful and just society would be the true memorial to
the victims of violence.” We have made significant strides in recent
years, in recent days even. The newly appointed Executive in Stormont
followed an election where the people in the North clearly rejected the
violent alternative to a shared and better future. The previous Assembly
served its full term of four years during which we saw the devolution of
policing and justice powers to Northern Ireland. A tiny majority do not
accept the clearly expressed will of the electorate, and continue to ignore
the clear and unambiguous message that was given in 1998 from voters all
over this island, that violence was not the way forward.
The families of those killed in Dublin and Monaghan on 17 May 1974 gathered
in Dublin this morning to remember their loved ones and others who lost
their lives on this side of the border. As they did so a bomb disposal van
belonging to our Defence Forces sped down Amiens Street on its way to deal
with a device. A chilling reminder that the carnage that was wrought in
Dublin and Monaghan in 1974 is something that others would seek to wreak on
this city today. I trust that everyone in this House will condemn those
who sought to disrupt today’s events and who seek to drag us back into a
violent past.
This All party Motion represents an opportunity for us as elected
representatives in this Dáil to send a clear message to our counterparts in
Westminster. In so doing I hope we can also send a clear message of
solidarity to the families who gathered in Dublin earlier today.