An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2020-12-15
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Deputies for raising this matter, the murder of two young innocent people in Belturbet in 1972. The victims were two teenagers, Geraldine O'Reilly and Patrick Stanley. It was a reprehensible crime. Deputies Smith and Smyth have been pursuing the matter for quite some time and the Garda investigation remains open. I will pursue the matter with the British authorities and the authorities in Northern Ireland.
I accept the point made by both Deputies that the families involved have been left with no answers. Unfortunately, in recent times we have had a number of cases where families have not gotten closure. This involves the British Government but also the non-State actors who continue to stay silent about what they know. They need to start living up to their obligations in terms of telling people what they know about heinous crimes of this kind. In this particular case I will do everything I possibly can to see if we can get further answers for the families.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2020-12-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:56+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-12-15