Apologies have been received from Deputy Quinn and Senator O'Rourke. The minutes of the 16 June meeting have been circulated. Is it agreed that they are in order? Agreed.
Business of Sub-Committee.
Will the Chairman tell us the content of the letter from the US ambassador concerning the Collins case? A summary will suffice. As I noticed the Chairman offered his thanks to the ambassador, I wondered the progress that had been made.
While the letter was substantial in providing an overview of the current position concerning the death penalty in the United States, it did not tell us anything about which we were unaware in terms of the Collins case. The ambassador appreciated our interest in the case and assured us that all the normal channels would remain open for Mr. Collins to pursue his case. No words of consolation were offered.
Perhaps we should recommend that the issue of the death penalty be discussed by the general committee in the autumn.
As the Deputy is aware, this matter is one of two which this committee intends to give special consideration to in the coming months. This will concern not only the Collins case but also the broader issue of the death penalty. It will not be far from our agenda at any of our meetings.
When we discussed this matter I suggested that, as the Council of Europe has been heavily and proactively involved in the abolition of the death penalty, it would be a useful experience for this committee to liaise with its sister committee in Strasbourg. Deputy Davern may have an opinion on this. Perhaps Deputy Davern, as leader of the Irish delegation, will facilitate that. This is an issue that we agreed to discuss in the autumn.
Yes.
We will send Deputy Higgins a copy of the ambassador's letter for his perusal.