Armed Forces Bill

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that and I hope that he will understand how strongly I feel about this matter. What he said seems to me to leave the door slightly open. He was clearly referring to the court case of Harry Farr, but he cannot ignore the fact that the Taoiseach wrote a formal submission about a year and a half ago. Clearly, the Irish Government expect, and are entitled to expect, a reply in respect of what are loosely called ““the Irish soldiers””—soldiers among the 306 who fought in the Irish regiments. I acknowledge the Secretary of State’s work in personally reviewing those cases, but I invite him to consider setting up a judicial inquiry, or appointing a judge or someone of that category to review those cases, rather than a Minister. [Interruption.] I have to say to those Members who consider this a matter of levity that there is growing and widespread support in this country for such an idea. We should not deal with this issue just because it is popular, but the fact remains that it is, and I intend—if I am able to do so—to table amendments relating to it, unless the Secretary of State decides, in the spirit of what has been said, to take it on board himself.