I raise the issue of the Ballymurphy inquest announcement. The verdicts have come in and after 50 years, the families and those who have campaigned have been vindicated. All of those who were killed on those fateful days in August 1971 were innocent, innocent and innocent. The inquest also established that there was no effective investigation into any of those deaths.

Today is a day of great relief and one to acknowledge the families and campaigners for their persistence and stamina. I am sure the verdicts will be met with a sense of bittersweet victory.

As the Taoiseach knows, the British Government is proposing to step away from the arrangements in the Stormont House Agreement for dealing with the past and legacy, and specifically those dealing with State killings that have never been properly investigated. How does the Taoiseach propose that this House take a stand in response to the verdict of this inquest?

The Deputy's time is up.

I can barely hear myself think with the racket down the back. I know my time is up and I am going to sit down but the racket in the back is absolutely wicked, whatever is going on there.

It is disrespectful. They are in the gallery.

I ask the Deputies in the gallery to restrain themselves.

Thank you.

As I said earlier, our first thoughts today are with the families of those killed following the terrible violence and atrocities in Ballymurphy on those three terrible days in August 1971. I recall visiting the site at the time and meeting with the relatives. I was never in any doubt but that these innocent citizens were killed without any justification and that they were entirely innocent, and the inquest has found that. As we heard this morning on "Morning Ireland" and other programmes, there remains enormous personal grief and sense of loss, which is renewed when intensive media attention returns to a case like this. It has been a very harrowing experience for many relatives and there have been many false dawns while trying to get closure and justice. The inquest findings are worthy of some debate in the House, as I said earlier.

On the legacy issues, the Government is very clear that the legacy of violence remains a deep wound. It must be dealt with but the framework for dealing with it is within the Stormont House Agreement, which was agreed by the two Governments and all political parties. The victims must be our priority in the context of legacy issues.