The McBrearty family have asked the European Parliament to back their demand for a State guarantee that their legal costs in the Morris tribunal will be covered.
Frank McBrearty and his son, Frank jnr, Mark McConnell and Michael Peoples met MEPs in Brussels yesterday and outlined what had happened to the family since the death of Richard Barron in 1996. Frank McBrearty jnr said the purpose of the visit was to raise awareness of the family's plight and to increase pressure on the Government to guarantee the cost of legal representation at the tribunal.
"We don't want money. It's not a money issue. We just want the Irish Government to acknowledge the equality issue. We have been denied that equality," he said.
Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins, who organised the visit, said that the legal team representing the family had received no payment for almost eight years and the family now owes €5 million in legal bills.
Proinsias De Rossa (Labour), a member of the European Parliament's petitions committee, said he was confident that MEPs would take up the McBrearty case and put pressure on the Government to accede to the family's demand.