Seanad report:Appealing for postponement of a debate on the Oireachtas committee report on the bombing of a Dundalk pub in the 1970s, Maurice Hayes (Ind) said we were at a difficult and sensitive period in the North as parties there were edging closer.
Dr Hayes was reacting to a call by Jim Walsh (FF) for a debate next week on the report on the bombing of Kay's Tavern and other atrocities. It behoved them as Oireachtas members to continue to exert pressure on the British government to meet its responsibilities in this regard, Mr Walsh said. The report had clearly indicated the extent of collusion.
This was an issue that would not go away or be forgotten. Dr Hayes said he respected Mr Walsh's concern arising from the Kay's Tavern bombing. However, he wondered if this was the right time to deal with that issue.
"There is an enormous problem with regard to how we deal with memory and the past in a deeply fractured society after a period in which awful things were done on both sides. It might cause further difficulty if we got ourselves into a position of demanding that every stone be turned over on one side and not on the other. If the Senator was a Protestant farmer in south Armagh, he would also think that terrorism was a matter of international terrorism, coming across the Border aimed at him."
Dr Hayes said that one thing that concerned him was that the report did not put the bombing into context, "as if the events came out of the blue. We need to include that context.
"There is also a weakness in the report. It appears to me that the views of lobby groups were established and accepted as if evidence or gospel fact.
"We are at a difficult and sensitive period in the North as parties are edging closer. If one party thought we in this House were ganging up to throw stones at one side and closing our eyes to what was going on on the other side, it could only do damage. I appeal to the House to postpone that debate and perhaps to include it in a wider debate about how we deal with memory and the sins of the past."
Meanwhile, Michael Finucane (FG) said the Government appeared to be engaged on the shameful course of "playing with the elderly" by delaying until close to the time of the general election the repayment of illegal charges for nursing home care.
Minister of State at the Department of Health Seán Power said the 22,000 repayment applications received were being processed. Mr Power accused Mr Finucane of abusing his position in the House by making outrageous allegations.
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When it suited some people The Irish Timeswas quoted lovingly in the House, and when it did not suit, it was not quoted, leader of the House, Mary O'Rourke said.
Ms O'Rourke said that Brian Hayes (FG) had spoken of Tánaiste Michael McDowell being derailed with regard to the measures for first-time house buyers in the Budget. That criticism was not valid, and she would recommend members to read that day's issue of The Irish Times.
Mr Hayes: "The bible"
Ms O'Rourke said the report in the paper had stated that the Minister had been badly misquoted on stamp duty reform.