This afternoon some of the so-called hooded men and their legal representatives are in the Public Gallery. They have just held a briefing session for Deputies and Seanadóirí in the audiovisual room. As the Taoiseach will know, last month the European Court of Human Rights, ECHR, rejected a request by the Government to find that the men had suffered torture at the hands of the British army and the RUC special branch. The 14 men involved were tortured for seven days, using brutal in-depth interrogation techniques, including being placed in stress positions, subjected to white noise, sleep deprivation, deprivation of food and water and receiving beatings and death threats. It was torture plain and simple.

The men have urged the Government to appeal the ECHR's decision.

A question.

Such an appeal must be entered before 20 June. I know the men will meet the Tánaiste this afternoon. In the interest of standing up for human rights and dignity, the Taoiseach should confirm to the House that the Government will, in fact, appeal the ruling.

The Taoiseach to respond - or the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

I am looking forward to meeting the families and some of the men concerned. I understand they will have their legal representatives with them. We will talk through the issues. The State wants to establish the truth and find justice here. We have tried to do that to date. An appeal is not straightforward. I look forward to taking the opportunity to discuss issues in some detail with the men involved later this afternoon.