Demand for promised Dáil and Seanad debates on collusion

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Sinn Féin Dáil Leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD has called for full-scale Dáil and Seanad debates on collusion. Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday, Ó Caoláin said Taoiseach Bertie Ahern must brief the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown from an Irish point of view on the issue of collusion.
“Last November the Oireachtas sub-committee on the Barron reports recommended full-scale Dáil and Seanad debates on collusion. The Government promised to comply yet these debates have still not been held”, Ó Caoláin said.
“Reading the McEntee Report on the Government and Garda response to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings the only logical explanation for what took place is a cover-up of collusion. Gross incompetence is not enough to explain the failure to investigate and the apparent destruction of records. There is a need for the Government to take action in response to this.
“The McEntee report also exposed the failure of the British authorities to co-operate with a Commission established by the Oireachtas. The Taoiseach must raise this with the British.
“There is an onus on the Taoiseach to fully brief the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown from an Irish point of view on the issue of collusion and specifically the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 and the other cases examined by Justice Barron.
“He must also raise the united demand of the Dáil for a full inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane and the case of murdered Sinn Féin Councillor Eddie Fullerton”, he said.