Good morning, and welcome to Irishman's Diary Morning Radio, and with me here in the studio is the Sinn Féin candidate for the European elections, Mary Lou McDonald.
And first question, Mary Lou: what is your opinion of the photographs of tortured prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. They're pretty shocking photographs, aren't they?
"They are shocking photographs, terrible proof of the evil the US is doing in Iraq. Sinn Féin is calling for a war crimes tribunal so that the US can be held accountable for its atrocities there, with these pictures as evidence."
But at least there are pictures, aren't there? No pictures of Paddy Flood, whom the IRA tortured and interrogated for seven weeks before killing him, are there? No pictures of Jean McConville's last days, are there? A mother of 10, leaving 10 orphans. No photographs either of Caroline Moreland, a mother of three, whom the IRA had for a month, doing God knows what to her, before killing her. What do you say to those killings?
"Well I say of those killings, as we in Sinn Féin say about all the killings during the IRA's human rights struggle in the North, that they are deeply regrettable, and an inevitable consequence of decades of British misrule. But the time has come to draw a line in the sand, and put the Troubles behind us and continue to push the Peace Process forward, especially in this time of crisis - an artificial crisis created by unionist rejectionists and British securocrats. These are the real enemies of the Peace Process, and have been all along. They have been working hand and glove throughout the Troubles, and for example, were certainly responsible for the Dublin and Monaghan bombings."
What do think the Government should do in response to those bombings?
"Well, since no-one has been charged for those terrible deeds, I think the Government should hold a sworn public enquiry to get to the bottom of these evil events. Merely because they were 30 years ago doesn't mean we should forget them. The bereaved families are entitled to hear who was responsible for causing them so much grief. There should be an enquiry, no matter how much it costs and how long it lasts."
And as for the Birmingham bombings six months later, which killed 21 people, just four fewer than the 25 killed in Dublin in May 1974. The bombers were never caught. Do you want an inquiry into that?
"I do. I want an inquiry into how it was that six innocent men were charged with that bombing. Yet another scandal where the victims were Irish and the culprits were the British securocrats. There will be no peace in Ireland, and the peace process will remain in crisis, while the British continue to cover up the details of the conspiracy against these six innocent Irishmen."
But as for the bombings themselves, do you want an inquiry into them? Twenty-one people having an innocent night out were blown to pieces. Don't they and their families deserve a full and open inquiry into how and why the IRA killed them?
"Well, do we know it was the IRA? It could well have been the dirty tricks department of the British government - the securocrats at their murderous games, once again. Who can say? But we cannot have inquiries into everything that occurred during the Troubles. We must draw a line in the sand and move on, pushing the Peace Process forward."
Presumably, then, you consider the Saville Tribunal a waste of time and money?
"I do not consider it a waste of either time or money provided we get to the bottom of these cold-blooded murders by the British establishment. However, if the Saville Tribunal doesn't prove that it was a murderous conspiracy that went all the way to 10, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, if it doesn't show that Prince Philip was in charge of the paratroopers, and Prince Charles was personally finishing off the wounded, then it will, yet again, be another British cover-up, concealing the bloody truth behind decades of British misgovernment in the six occupied counties. It is the British presence in our country which is the primary cause of all violence.
"So, the Government should have a sworn public inquiry into how the British remained, thanks to partition and the Black and Tans. So we should certainly have an enquiry into the first Bloody Sunday at Croke Park."
It wasn't the first Bloody Sunday. There was one before that on Bachelors Walk in Dublin in August 1914, when British soldiers killed some people bearing arms from the Howth gun-running.
"And that too! We need an inquiry about all iniquities in Ireland, no matter how long ago!"
Would this mean a full inquiry into the pogroms in which many Protestants in Cork were killed and thousands expelled from their homes in 1922?
"Firstly, I would dispute that the IRA was involved in that. However, regardless of who was responsible, we cannot endlessly revisit the past. We need to draw a line in the sand and push the Peace Process forward."
If you are elected to the European Parliament, what will you hope to achieve?
"Basically, I think, an international war crimes tribunal to investigate British and unionist atrocities throughout the Troubles. Only that way can we get closure for the bereaved."
And what about La Mon, Enniskillen, Bloody Friday, Coleraine, and the thousands of victims of IRA violence?
"The time has come to draw a line in the sand. . ."