Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak this evening in support of the motion tabled by the Fine Gael Party and supported by the Government parties with agreed amendments. I wish to reinforce the message given by party leader, which in its essence is crystal clear: "The time for reluctant acceptance or tolerance of the existence of armed, illegal paramilitary groups as key players or influencers in the peace process must end." The House must be unambiguous and firm in its demands of all paramilitaries including violent republicans and political representatives who have a special relationship and influence over the IRA, as Martin McGuinness admitted on "Questions and Answers" last night.

This motion is being debated in the context of IRA statements issued last week by faceless people with no legitimate mandate, in which it lectured the two Governments and the Irish people in a self-righteous manner and threatened to withdraw all co-operation regarding the peace process. It states its patience has been "tried to the limit" and warns us not to "underestimate the seriousness of the situation". Does it not cross the minds of members of the IRA that the patience of both Governments has been tried and tested many times, not least most recently by the biggest bank raid in the history of Ireland, where all the evidence points to IRA involvement? The robbery occurred at a time when people North and South believed we were in touching distance of a lasting agreement and full decommissioning before Christmas. Is it any wonder people feel betrayed by an organisation that gives all the signs of moving towards full decommissioning, while at the same time planning a bank robbery on such a scale? This is without mentioning the continued use of punishment beatings throughout the political process while we tried to find an acceptable way forward based on the Good Friday Agreement, which is nearly seven years' old.

John A. Murphy summed up the view of many over the weekend, when he wrote in the Sunday Independent:

It cannot be said too clearly or too often: the IRA is not a legitimate player in the process, as it is frequently treated. It is an illegal criminal organisation which purports to usurp the lawful government and army of the Republic. It is a violation of the law and the Constitution. The fundamental problem is not its criminality nor even decommissioning, but its very existence.

There is no need or role for the IRA in modern Ireland, North or South. The sooner it gets off the pitch, as the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, put it, the better to allow legitimate, democratically elected parties which have been given a mandate by the people to get on with putting together a lasting peace process with devolved power and an end to paramilitarism and all its ugly consequences. We all have a responsibility to make things happen in this regard.

While I do not pretend to have the same understanding as some Deputies of the mind-set of those who continue the so-called armed struggle or those who threaten to return to it, I know the vast majority of people on this island support the Good Friday Agreement as the only basis for a lasting settlement and want an end, once and for all, to paramilitarism in all its forms. Republicans and Nationalists of all shades have political parties well able to represent them and fight any battles that need to be fought through politics and debate. The use and threat of violence must end in reality and as a political bargaining chip in negotiations in which more and more concessions are sought.

Sinn Féin has a unique responsibility in this regard. As it consistently reminds us, it has a mandate but in recent times this mandate has been based on a repeated commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and the use of exclusively peaceful and democratic means to achieve its political objectives. How are Deputies to view Sinn Féin? It is a political party, yet it seems impossible to get a credible answer from it as to the real relationship between its leadership and the leadership of the IRA. One week, we see Sinn Féin representatives negotiating to release IRA prisoners who shot a garda, while the next we hear them it refuse to comment on or attempt to clarify IRA statements, saying they are entirely separate organisations. People will no longer be taken for fools in this regard. All elected Members of the House who recognise the State and the Constitution must end links with any form of violence and accept and recognise that crimes committed by paramilitary organisations or anyone else are criminal and cannot be justified by any cause or struggle or for fundraising purposes, nor tolerated for the sake of the peace process.

I welcome the Taoiseach's recent statements, particularly today's statement on the killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe, an issue on which I heard strong public views during the recent European election campaign. I wish the Government well, particularly the Taoiseach and the Ministers for Finance and Justice, Equality and Law Reform opposite, who are the key people involved in trying to bring about a lasting agreement with which everyone on this island can live.

I repeat my call on the republican movement to clearly demonstrate its commitment to full decommissioning and to ending all criminal and paramilitary activity.

See this speech in context