Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2020-11-24
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I certainly will. There is a very important aspect to this also. Where sovereign governments enter into agreements, they should be adhered to and followed through. The Irish Government at the time entered into its commitments and it established the Smithwick inquiry, irrespective of where it would land and without fear or favour. The same should apply to the UK Government. In the conduct of international affairs and relationships between two sovereign friendly nations a basic tenet of such relationships should be that if we enter into agreements, they should be honoured. As a former Minister for Foreign Affairs, I pursued this at the time and met with quite considerable resistance. If the Deputy recalls, at that time the Bloody Sunday inquiry was coming to a conclusion. That may have been a context for the wider British response. There may be other factors that we all know about that may be hindering the right decision being made but, suffice to say, I believe it is important that the British Government would adhere to commitments given solemnly in respect of an overarching agreement that has worked for the benefit of all the people on this island and enhanced the relationships between the people living on these islands. It is in that spirit that I ask the British Prime Minister and the British Government to do the right thing on this occasion and establish a full public inquiry.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2020-11-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-11-24