Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputies McGinley, O'Dowd and Kehoe. I reject the Sinn Féin amendment and its rather ludicrous presentation. The debate on the Fine Gael motion was worthwhile. It has succeeded in its objectives, to unite the fully democratic parties behind the Good Friday Agreement and to reaffirm the continuation of cross-party support in this House for the peace process. The debate has allowed the elected representatives of this jurisdiction to reaffirm the vote of the people in the referendum of May 1998 which confirmed support for the pursuit of political objectives by exclusively peaceful and democratic means.

As a follow-up there should be further debate. That is why I support the proposal to re-establish the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation as a forum for honest dialogue and debate where hard questions could be asked. The SDLP favours this too. That party contributed a great deal to this process over a long time and has recently been too often sidelined.

I also welcome more debate on the SDLP's recent proposal arising from the impasse, to move forward the Good Friday Agreement as far as possible pending the re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The forum would be a good place for that debate.

This debate was a reality check for all the parties in the House. It confirmed Fine Gael's bipartisan approach, and enabled it to establish acceptable boundaries and reiterate red line issues, generally on criminality and in particular on the release of the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe.

It assures the Government of support in its honest efforts on behalf of the Good Friday Agreement and makes it aware of the boundaries and the red line issues. I support every word the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, said so eloquently tonight. The day when he must drive to Limerick to tell Mrs. Ann McCabe that the killers of her husband were to be released has been deferred sine die.

I welcome Sinn Féin aboard the democratic train on the basis of full acceptance of the democratic norms that apply to everybody else. Sometimes Sinn Féin seems to live in a cloud cuckoo land, a make-believe world that began when the party was established as a breakaway organisation in 1969, and which it continues to maintain is the only world in which everybody else should live.

The party must address some fundamental questions, such as whether it accepts fully the rule of law in this jurisdiction, that the law is defined by this House, and is interpreted by the courts of this land. It needs to reassure us that it fully accepts its obligations under Bunreacht na hÉireann, for example, Article 9.2, "Fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State are fundamental political duties of all citizens"; and Article 6.2, "These powers of government are exercisable only by or on the authority of the organs of State established by this Constitution."

I believe passionately in the Constitution and the rule of law. If Sinn Féin claims to be democratic it must fully accept the institutions set down in this Constitution, the Oireachtas, the courts and the police.

On the issue of criminality, there is no scope for a Humpty Dumpty approach. Humpty Dumpty said: "When I use a word it means what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less." Crime is as established and laid down by legislation in this House and interpreted by the courts. This is a fundamental point that must be accepted.

It appears when Gerry Adams speaks of a crime he is guided by whether it was an action sanctioned by the IRA army council, a collection of nameless, faceless cowards, accountable only to themselves. On that basis, it appears the murder of Jean McConville was not a crime. How can any sane person present this view? Sinn Féin can try to convince us that the killing of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe was not a crime. There are bridges to be crossed before Sinn Féin can be accepted as a fully democratic party, but it must cross those bridges itself.

With regard to Sinn Féin's friends in the IRA, I do not accept that the recent statements of the IRA were thinly veiled. They were stark threats. My reaction is to tell the IRA it has a brass neck. In many ways decommissioning is not now the answer as other gangs such as the Mafia can replace guns at any time. The real issues with regard to the IRA are criminality and racketeering. However, the core issue is the existence of the IRA. This debate has served to send a simple message from this House to the IRA, namely, this House sends a P45 to Mr. P. O'Neill and all his gang. The message is: "Get off the pitch, your game is up."

The message to Sinn Féin is that it is welcome on the pitch but only if it fully accepts the provisions of Bunreacht na hÉireann and the rule of law. If those messages reach home and are accepted and agreed, we can make progress in the not too distant future on a complete resolution of the national issue on this island.

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