Debate contribution: Legacy Cases: Irish Government

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Frew on 19 May 2026.

MLA

Mr Paul Frew

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

19 May 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Legacy Cases: Irish Government

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5550234

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

I have proposed the motion because I feel that it goes to the heart of one of the greatest injustices still facing many innocent victims and survivors across Northern Ireland. For years, the Irish Government have sought to lecture others about legacy, accountability and reconciliation, while refusing to fully cooperate on cases connected to the Republic of Ireland or to establish any meaningful investigative mechanism of their own. That position is totally and utterly indefensible. Victims who lost loved ones to IRA and other republican terrorists deserve answers, regardless of which side of the border the information lies on. Instead, many families have spent decades being met with obstruction, delay and silence from Dublin. The Irish Government cannot continue to posture as an honest broker on legacy issues whilst maintaining what many victims see as a "decades-long embargo" on truth and accountability. All they do is gaslight the innocent victims of republican terrorists. The Irish Republic's Government selectively obstruct legacy investigations, particularly those involving cross-border IRA activity. Victims' families are denied information and truth that they have sought for years. The Republic's Government act like some honest witness; like a bystander who has witnessed serious crime from afar. That is not the case. They chastise the UK Government's actions, however misguided they are, yet do nothing to put in place and establish separate investigative processes addressing the legacy of the past and their part in it. They have had the neck to apply pressure on a very weak Labour Secretary of State to retain flawed processes and legislation. I have no doubt that there are many brave people who serve in an Garda Síochána and overseas in the Irish Army, and they have tried their best, as we have here, to quell the flame of terrorist fire. However, it is also true to say that, when terrorists ran — that is what they did; they ran — across that border, they were given safe haven and were able to disappear in the mist, and no one could find them. Even if they were found and arrested, when it came to extradition, the Irish Government played no part in it. They did not allow those terrorists to face justice in a UK court so that their victims could see that justice and have their day in court. That is what the Irish Government did to the victims of terrorism in Northern Ireland and, indeed, in Britain. It is therefore really important that the Irish Government make amends for that aspect of their shady past. However, they have not, and they continue to block and obstruct victims and witnesses from the truth and justice. They chastise the UK Government for not going through with legacy, trials or inquiries; yet they do not hold any themselves. If they hold some, it is a sham: a paper exercise on behalf of the Irish Government. That is not good enough for our people. There is absolutely no reason why parties in the Chamber cannot support the motion. They should fully get behind it to ensure that we in the Assembly send the clear message to Dublin that we have had enough and that innocent victims and their families have had enough. It is right and proper that we apply pressure on the Irish Government, as they have applied pressure on the UK Government, to deliver justice. Let us see whether the Irish Government can deliver justice, given how they decry the UK's system. It is really difficult for witnesses who are seeking truth and justice to view from afar the actions, or the inaction, of the Dublin Government. What should it be to the Irish Government? Why can the Irish Government not take part? Why can they not fulfil the wishes of the victims when they seek truth? What have the Irish Government got to lose? What have they got to hide? Surely, they want to see the end of Irish republican terrorism and to end that part of their history so that we can all start afresh with a good, clean pair of hands, so why do they have their hands behind their back? Why do they not disclose the evidence and produce the material that they have so that innocent victims can see — and hear and feel — what truth looks like?

Yes, I will.

My colleague makes a good point. That is the truth: not only did republican terrorists murder more people of the Catholic faith than did terrorists from any other organisation but they tormented an Garda Síochána and the Irish Army. Let us remember that the IRA did not recognise the Irish state, the Irish Army — the Defence Forces — or an Garda Síochána. It wanted to break down the Irish state just as much as it wanted to destroy Northern Ireland as a state and a part of the United Kingdom. The Irish Government have to be reminded time and again that they therefore should, and can, try to eradicate Irish republican terrorism from their midst and to separate their part in that murky era of our shared history. I appeal to the Irish Government tonight — I hope that this will be echoed in every part of the Chamber — to disclose every aspect of evidence from their record-keeping and to get that out in the open so that we can see it and, more importantly, victims can see exactly what happened to their loved ones. How and where was that planned? Where did the terrorists go after the atrocity to seek a safe haven? Where were the safe houses that they went to? Where did they lie, undetected, for months, and why did they do so? Why did they not come to the UK on an extradition warrant? Why did they not face justice in a UK court? Why did the victims not see justice? We will not give up asking those pertinent questions. The Irish Government must answer them not for my sake or the Assembly's sake but for the victims who have waited decades — decades — for the truth and who have been gaslighted every day by the Irish Government's treatment of them. They chastise the UK Government, yet, on their own, they do nothing to help victims of the Troubles, who include not only many who see themselves as Irish citizens but those who reside in the Irish Republic.

The Irish Government are not only failing victims in Northern Ireland —

— but failing their own citizens.

1,090 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Second assessment

Jev’s answers did not settle this record, so a second model, claude-opus-5-5, read the same text (without the MLA’s name or party) and gave its reasons on 23 October 2026. How the second assessment works

Verdict

Not flagged

Public interest or divisiveness

Mixed

Against the published rubric

The motion concerns a substantive legacy question: whether the Irish Government will disclose records, cooperate on cross-border cases and set up its own investigative mechanism for victims of republican violence. Its rhetoric is sharp, with phrases such as "gaslight the innocent victims", "shady past" and "a sham". The target is a government's conduct and record, not a community. The speaker praises "brave people" in the Garda and Irish Army, notes that republican terrorists killed many Catholics, and says Irish citizens are among the victims failed, so it does not meet the tests for communal antagonism or a dog whistle.

Public interest or divisiveness

The main thrust is advocacy for victims seeking information and accountability, framed as pressure on a government to disclose evidence. That is a legitimate political demand of the same kind as calls on the UK Government to disclose material on state collusion. However, the speech also scores points against Dublin in a familiar contest of competing legacy narratives, accusing it of posturing and hypocrisy, which adds a divisive edge. Both elements are substantial.

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:46 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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