Aontú Calls For Judicial Review In Response To Threatened British Amnesty – Aontú Will Pursue Legal Action If Govt Fails To!
Speaking in the Dáil, Aontú Leader & Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín called on the Irish government to pursue a Judicial Review Action if the Tory Government persist with their illegal amnesty, but has stated that if the government fails to do so, Aontú will seek to do so.
An Teachta Tóibín: “The British state murdered, citizens of the state and then covered up their actions to protect the perpetrators. On 5 February 1992, the UDA murdered five Nationalists and wounded another 9 at the Seán Graham bookmakers shop on the Lower Ormeau Road in Belfast. Two men wearing boiler suits and balaclavas pumped 44 shots into the victims. The Ombudsman report into this atrocity also investigated the murders of 7 other Nationalists. RUC Special Branch informants were directly involved in these murders. These Murderers were under the direction and employment of the RUC and Special Branch. Incredibly The Ombudsman identified eight British informants linked to the murders and attempted murders of 27 people.”
“A police Gun was used by Loyalists. The RUC destroyed files deliberately. They failed to investigate CCTV footage. They failed to search houses of suspects. The RUC failed to conduct full forensic tests on blood. They failed to test a getaway car for gunshot resin. These events and those detailed in Operation Greenwich are part of a continuum of British Government Policy in Ireland that included the Bloody Sunday, The Ballymurphy Massacre, the Springhill Massacre, Loughinisland massacre, Greysteel massacre, Miami Showband massacre, the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings. I also want to give credit to Stephen Travers who I had the pleasure to meet today. He has campaigned for so long to achieve justice.”
“The Police Ombudsman has 400 requests for investigations from families, victims and survivors. 400 SUCH REQUESTS. These families have been through so much. 30 and 40 years after the murder of their loved ones they have limited details being drip fed slowly to them in these reports. But shockingly they have still not achieved justice. But much of this information is simply confirmation of what they all ready know.
“But there is still no British Justice. There is no rule of law. If there is a British amnesty, the perpetrators will get away with murder. Remember the British Military were involved in the killing of elected representatives when they killed Cllr Eddie Fullerton and Bernard O'Hagan. They are also killed a number of party election workers. Incredibly the British state were a threat to the democratic function of the northern state and the southern state. Why did these covert deaths happen? They happened because of the international push back that Britain received after Bloody Sunday. The British Military knew that they could no longer kill Nationalists openly and on Camera. They knew that they could still target nationalist and Catholics if they did it through loyalist proxies. Some people might feel that this is ancient history. But it happened in our life time. The perpetrators of these murders live in the same towns and villages as the families of the dead loved ones. Some of the securocrats who carried out this collusion are likely to still be in the pay of the British state.”
“Many were promoted for their actions. A British paratrooper who was on Derry's streets on Bloody Sunday has been appointed an MBE by the English Queen. The same queen go received a commendation from the Sinn Féin leader last week. Irish Republicans on the other hand spent 100,000 years cumulatively in jail for the actions that they took. Could the contrast be any greater in how the who different sides of the conflict were treated. I cannot think of another western country which would have had so many citizens murdered by a neighbouring state and have done so little to achieve justice. Sure the government has met with these victims, sure the government has denounced these actions, for sure wreaths have been laid at monuments, for sure they have raised it with the British, but all with very little impact.”
“The British Government is a signatory to international agreements such as the Good Friday Agreement and the Stormont House Agreement. I am appealing to the Irish government to ensure that the British are forced under international law to abide by these agreements. I am calling on the government to use their position within the UN to ensure a fair investigation.”
“The Irish Government must tell the British Government now that if they proceed with an amnesty for those who murdered Irish citizens in this country north and south that the Irish Government will launch a judicial review against that legislation on the basis that it most likely contravene the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the Good Friday Agreement and the Stormont House Agreement. We in Aontú have consulted with our legal team and I want to put it on the record that if the Irish government fail in doing this we in Aontú through our members will do all we can to bring a Judicial Review to prevent any British Amnesty legislation coming into effect.”
“Minister we are also asking you to search for a mechanism whereby an all Ireland Commission of Investigation can be constructed to investigate these crimes. The Smithwick Tribunal allowed for witnesses from both sides of the border to provide evidence. Such a Commission of Investigation may not be able to 100% operate in the manner that we seek but there it may shed light into the hundreds of murders that were carried out by the British Government in Ireland.”
