(Mayo): Is it not a fact that we are talking about a series of instances? We are talking about four young members of the RUC, including a 21 year old woman police officer, Lord Chief Justice Gibson and his wife, Cecily, who were blown up, the entire Hanna family – Robert, aged 45, Maureen, aged 44, and David, aged seven – who were blown up on the side of the road, RUC Chief Superintendent, Barry Breen, and Superintendent Bob Buchanan who were assassinated and Tom Oliver, a farmer from County Louth who was abducted, tortured and murdered. This is a series of separate incidences. Is the Minister telling the House that there was absolutely no evidence to associate the two individuals, members of the Garda Síochána, with these incidences?
Will the Minister acknowledge that following the murder of Tom Oliver the RUC discovered the identity of the mole and made it known to members of the Garda Síochána at senior level and that instead of being dealt with, the individual in question was posted to a relatively quiet station and now lives out his life in happy retirement? Is the Minister saying that this person, who has been involved in the assassination of innocent people north and south of the Border, should not be the subject of a detailed inquiry and that it was not possible to establish a direct link between him and the incidences I have mentioned?
The Minister might throw cold water on the common expression "the dogs in the street knew", but everybody, including people in the Garda Síochána, knew the identity of this individual, but for some reason he was shielded and protected and now lives a life of relative calm on a State pension.