5. Reply Submissions by Ms Dobbin

Ms Dobbin: My Lady, I mean no discourtesy to my learned friends by not responding in detail to the helpful submissions of that been made. Clearly, there are points that require further consideration by you.

There are perhaps just one or two things that might help if I just pick up on though and, in particular, Ms Campbell’s submissions about the terms of scope and the short reference that’s made therein to the Republic of Ireland.

I just wanted to make clear that obviously the terms of scope are set out in quite – it is put in a pithy way but I hope that the detailed list of issues that we will provide in due course will set out more clearly what, in fact, falls within that term of scope and might be helpful in that regard.

I also just wanted to pick up on one point made by my learned friend, Ms Campbell as well about the Rule 9s. I think she suggested that it wasn’t clear to the bereaved families to whom those Rule 9s were being sent.

I just wanted to make clear again that where Rule 9s are sent to individuals that will be indicated in our monthly updates because we have been focusing on sending out the departmental ones, that’s why they are not individual specific. I just wanted to make the point again because maybe I didn’t explain this very clearly, but obviously those departmental Rule 9 requests and the responses that we get will inform the more detailed Rule 9s that we do send out to the sorts of individuals who work within those departments in due course and, of course, the families will know to whom those have been sent and I just wanted to reiterate again, as regards the witnesses, and Ms Ferguson, for example, had suggested as might be potentially relevant.

We have taken that on board and again some of those individuals will be sent Rule 9s as well. So I just wanted to make it clear that obviously there’s room for dialogue and communication on those issues.

Just in terms of then the experts and this is the final point on devolved issues. When I was suggesting what has been described as a wait and see approach what I really had in mind was that my learned friends may want to consider the things that the experts have been able to touch on and then to think about the things that we might need that sort of dedicated Northern Ireland evidence on. I’m told that experts on devolved issues are actively – there is a process to identify them, so the Inquiry is certainly getting on with that, regardless of the position that’s taken.

I didn’t want my learned friends to just think that was something that wasn’t being advanced. That’s very much under active consideration. I hope that that’s helpful.

Unless I can help you any further with anything.

Baroness Hallett: No, thank you very much, Ms Dobbin.

Everyone has been extremely helpful again and I would like to express my gratitude for many of the suggestions made and I will take them up with counsel to the Inquiry and I have absolutely no doubt that the Core Participants’ assistance is improving the work that we do. We are developing as we go along. We try to remain flexible and therefore the submissions, as I have heard today, both this morning and this afternoon, will help us in that development. So thank you everyone who participated. Thank you everyone who watched online. That concludes today’s hearings. Thank you.

(4.00 pm)

(The preliminary hearing for Module 2C concluded)