TAOISEACH Enda Kenny deserves considerable credit for his decision to meet two different groups of grieving relatives during his visit to Northern Ireland over the last 48 hours.
Mr Kenny listened carefully to the representations put forward by the families of 10 Catholics killed by British soldiers in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast in 1971 and of 10 Protestants shot dead by republicans at Kingsmill in south Armagh in 1976.
In both cases, dedicated campaigners have spent decades trying to establish the full circumstances behind appalling atrocities which caused enormous suffering within their communities.
The search for truth and justice has been a long one, but the assurances offered by Mr Kenny can only help to move events in the right direction.