Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn]

For the avoidance of doubt, there is no question of paying anybody any money to disband. There is no question of doing that at all. As I indicated a moment ago, for all the efforts that have been made—there is much to learn from what has worked—the fact remains, as the Independent Reporting Commission report makes clear, that many communities in Northern Ireland continue to suffer real harm because of paramilitary activities. What is the proof that those who say they are prepared to disband are doing so? The proof will be: do they end recruitment, paramilitary-style assaults, intimidation, child criminal and sexual exploitation and violence against women and girls? That is what people are experiencing today in Northern Ireland.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I want all paramilitaries off our streets for good, and I also want to see justice done for their victims. That is why I cannot quite understand why the Dublin Government are closing their eyes to the 2021 Horner judgment, which recommended inquiries in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland. The family hearings in Omagh have brought the horror of that day to a new generation. Will the Secretary of State use his influence to call on Dublin to give the Omagh families the public inquiry they deserve and want so, so much?

[Hilary Benn]

I recognise, not least because of the commemorative hearings that have been taking place in the inquiry, that all the pain, suffering, horror and tragedy of that day have been brought to life again for the families who live with that every single day of the week. I welcome the fact that the Irish Government are committed to co-operating with the Omagh inquiry. I look forward to the signing of the memorandum of understanding. It is for the Irish Government to decide what inquiries they wish to establish in relation to events in the Republic.