Ronald Machtley: “first of all, I would like to thank my colleague from Massachusetts for organizing this special order session with…”

“first of all, I would like to thank my colleague from Massachusetts for organizing this special order session with regard to the advancement of the peace process in Northern Ireland. The timing of this session is particularly good, in light of this month's release of Amnesty International's report on human rights in Northern Ireland. The report warns that there will be no peace without respect for human rights in Northern Ireland. I maintain that no negotiated settlement will take place until the cycle of sectarian murders is put to an end and until the British Government's atrocious human rights record is drastically improved. It should come as no surprise that the majority of human rights violations detailed in Amnesty's report have occurred to the detriment of the Catholic community in Northern Ireland. There has long been an appearance of collusion between the security forces in the north and illegal loyalist paramilitary organizations. This apparent collusion has had the understandable effect of polarizing the Catholic population from the security forces in Northern Ireland. On this note, I believe the time has come for an independent tribunal to be appointed to carry out independent investigations into shooting incidents involving members of the public where lethal force has been used. I also believe it necessary to tighten up on the operational rules with regard to lethal force used by the security forces in Northern Ireland.”