On 18 June 1994, Ireland played Italy in a World Cup match in Giants Stadium. The Irish team astonished the world by defeating the Italians on that day. Most of the country was immersed in celebrations of that shock result. Loughinisland is a small village in County Down. On 18 June 1994, like practically every small village in the country, people piled into pubs to watch that match. On that night, at 10.10 p.m., two UVF men in boiler suits wielding Kalashnikovs went into that pub and fired 25 shots. Six people were killed and five others were wounded. Mr. Barney Green, 87 years old; Mr. Daniel McCreanor, 59 years old; Mr. Malcolm Jenkinson, 52 years old; Mr. Eamon Byrne, 39 years old; Mr. Patrick O'Hare, 35 years old; and Mr. Adrian Rogan, 34 years old were all murdered simply because they frequented a pub that was normally frequented by Catholics and they were watching a match in which the Republic of Ireland was playing in an international tournament.

Some people may feel this is in the past but the pain, hurt and suffering for those families still goes on today. No one has been held to account for those murders. Victims and the truth seem to be the collateral damage of the British dirty war in Ireland. Mr. Niall Murphy, a solicitor for the victims, has said the victims have been let down to this very day because no one is being held to account for the massacre. He said Mr. Barney Green was the oldest victim of the conflict in the North, yet the PSNI and the NIO forced the dying Ms Bridget Green to fight to her last days through the courts for justice for her dead husband. In the year of 2016, in a police ombudsman report, Dr. Michael Maguire, stated he had no hesitation in saying collusion was a significant feature of the Loughinisland murders. That report found the RUC knew the names of the suspects of the killings within one day of the massacre but delayed arresting them. The police ombudsman report also stated that one of the suspects was being run by the RUC as an informant.

While some may feel this is in the past, this weekend, 1,500 people, dressed in black trousers, white shirts and white ties, marched in a UVF march in east Belfast. These murders are part of a long list of murders of innocent people in the North of Ireland. These murders were carried out either by the help of the British state or at least were covered up by the British state. The British legacy Act, which was passed, was designed to give amnesty to people who carried out murders to stop families getting to the truth of what happened to their loved ones. Thankfully, the Government has brought the British Government to the European Court of Human Rights on that horrendous Act. What progress has been made in the Irish Government's case against the British Government on this issue?

I thank Deputy Tóibín for raising this important issue. I join with him in completely condemning what happened in Loughinisland.

I very much agree with them on the point that just because time has passed, it does not mean that issues can be ignored. It does not mean that an approach can be taken to any issue that is not victim centred and is not centred in terms of justice, truth and accountability. I think all parties in this House, and certainly all parties in Northern Ireland, which is a rare event, have rightly come together to condemn and oppose the legacy Act that has been introduced by the British Government. We do not believe it is compliant with agreements that had been reached between the political parties and the Governments of Ireland and the UK because we do not believe it is victim centred. It is opposed by every victims' rights group in Northern Ireland and, as I said, it has been opposed by all of the political parties. It represents a significant deviation from the approach that has been taken through a range of agreements over many years. It was with regret that the Irish Government took the decision that it needed to take an interstate case against the United Kingdom. We did not do so lightly and we did not do it without exhausting all the diplomatic and political avenues available to us. We raised this at British-Irish Councils and all the other places one would expect Government and Government representatives to raise it. However, the mind of the British Government was set and the papers have been lodged.

I do not have my note on it to hand but my understanding is that the court is now, in the first instance, considering the case and its admissibility. It will decide on that and how best to proceed. I am conscious that there is a British election soon and I do not want to cut across that. However, I am also aware that there are different views among political parties in the United Kingdom on this matter. For our part as the Government and I appreciate on this basis, all parties in the Dáil, we will continue to speak out and speak up for victims and survivors and for the need for justice, truth and reconciliation. Any approach to legacy has to be one that has the support of political parties in Northern Ireland. It has to be compliant with human rights law and have the confidence of victims' representative groups and others. We will take every opportunity to continue to make that case. I intend to meet the British Prime Minister after the results of the UK general election. I hope to be in a position to do that in July. This is one of the many issues I wish discuss.