Taoiseach’s Commitments To Ballymurphy Families Ring False

Independent TD Mattie McGrath has said he hopes the Taoiseach Enda Kenny will demonstrate more effective support for the victims and families of the Ballymurphy massacre than he has shown to the families of those who died during the Omagh bomb. Deputy McGrath made his comments as the Dáil debates a motion on the massacre which took place in 1971 and which saw eleven civilians brutally murdered:

“Anything that advances the cause of justice for the victims and families of the horrific massacre at Ballymurphy is to be welcomed.

I would only say to the Ballymurphy families that they should be cautious about commitments given by this Taoiseach when it comes to displaying ‘utmost solidarity’ with them in light of the treatment which the Omagh bomb victim support group has received from his Government.

They too experienced the warm embrace and political commitments of the Taoiseach to move heaven and earth in their search for justice as far back as the 2004 Fine Gael Ard-Fheis.

At that event theENDS

 families of the Omagh atrocity were told by the Taoiseach to their very faces that “any Government led by him must keep their word because that is the standard which should be set and which they should demand” in terms of the search for the full truth of what occured.

More than a decade later however the Omagh families are still pursuing the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice to effectively engage with the issues raised in a major report compiled by them more than two years ago.

I would only say to the Taoiseach that while our shared history on this island is dark enough, it does not need to be made worse by repeating hollow political commitments that advance us nowhere in terms of securing a brighter future,” concluded Deputy McGrath.