Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2025-05-13
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Mary Lou McDonald (SF), Dublin Central

I ask about Sean Brown, chairman of Bellaghy Wolfe Tones Gaelic Athletic Club in County Derry, who was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997. No one has ever been convicted of his killing. The British Government has failed to establish an independent public inquiry into Mr. Brown's 1997 murder despite being directed to do so by the High Court and despite a ruling by the Court of Appeal in Belfast last month that declared this refusal to be unlawful and a breach of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Tánaiste met Bridie Brown yesterday evening. Will the Irish Government make a clear and unequivocal call for a public inquiry as directed by the High Court and Court of Appeal? I am asking for that to be enunciated very clearly. I am not talking about a nebulous form of investigation but a fully constituted public inquiry that is compliant with Article 2, as directed by the High Court and Court of Appeal.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-05-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-05-13