I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for fitting me in. One hundred years ago this month, a group of ten republican prisoners, including five from County Leitrim, were released from Peterhead prison in Scotland. They were among the last IRA prisoners to be released from British prisons in 1926. This group was arrested by crown forces while engaged in a cross-Border raid in 1922 intended to kidnap high-profile unionists as part of a tit-for-tat prisoner-taking and exchange campaign that continued after the Treaty of 1921. They were arrested and briefly detained in the North before being transported to Peterhead prison in Scotland. These men did not receive political status and were subjected to brutal conditions in what has been described as Scotland’s "most notorious prison", "Scotland’s Alcatraz" and "Scotland’s gulag". The prison conditions were appalling and one of those prisoners, Bernie Sweeney, reported that they were frequently beaten in Peterhead and to such an extent they were often unrecognisable. These prisoners were chained and subjected to hard labour using 7 lb or 14 lb sledgehammers to split the hard granite used to build a harbour that in later years saved the lives of countless sailors and oil rig workers caught off Scotland’s north-east coast during stormy weather. Conditions were so harsh that two of these ten men tragically died soon after their release.

I bring it up today because I was contacted earlier this month by Linda MacManus, the grand-niece of one of these men, Joseph Reynolds of Aghacashel, County Leitrim. Joseph joined the IRA when he was 15 or 16 years old and he sacrificed his youth and personal liberty to fight for the freedom of the country that he loved. He went on, like many Irish patriots, to serve in the US army in the Second World War. He died in America in 1988. Linda and the other families of the Peterhead Ten as they are called feel that the sacrifice and contribution made by these men has never really been adequately recognised by the State and they have asked me to raise this matter here in the hope that the Minister for culture will sanction the erection of a plaque or monument in recognition of their contribution to the Irish cause. This group is meeting in Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday to discuss how this commemoration can be brought forward. I ask the Leader if he can play any part in bringing the matter to the attention of the Minister, as I know that would be much appreciated by the surviving families.