Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and I have spent more hours working on these issues than we would want, particularly over the last two years. I recall weekends when we sat around, mostly waiting for people to get back to us on certain issues. I think we spent approximately 30 hours working on these issues, waiting for briefing notes, etc., over the course of one weekend, during one of the failed attempts to reach agreement. I could mention many other things, but there is no point in going into them. Many people who have spoken about the peace process in recent days are so badly informed about it that it is upsetting to listen to them. I would rather leave such things go, however, because the people in question are not involved in the detail and do not understand all aspects of the matter.

The second issue raised by Deputy Kenny was a comment made by the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea. The Minister's statement was correct, of course. All such issues were mentioned in paragraph 11 of the joint declaration because acts of criminality were ongoing at that time. The British Prime Minister, Mr. Blair, and I said such issues would have to be dealt with when we spelt out in detail the necessary acts of completion at the end of 2002. Quite frankly, our immediate concern at that time was to see an end to the daily killings, bombings and attacks.

We should not forget we have seen the end of a significant number of problems, which I hope will never come back again. It is too easy for people to say that it has all been a waste of time. I heard somebody say that the other day, but it is obvious that the person in question does not remember how bad it was in the past. People need to take stock and to consider what it was like. Deputy Kenny is right — we have to finish the process. One cannot go on, ten years on. We are now talking about criminality and fraud. People are trying to raise and use money that was gained through illegal activity for political purposes. We want to bring an end to such issues. That is the position.

Deputy Kenny also spoke about the brave family of Robert McCartney, some members of which are in Dublin today. The Minister will do all he can to help them. They have suffered in the worst possible way at the hands of those engaged in thuggery and criminality — they have lost a family member to murder. We have to try to help them in every way we can.

I was not in the House yesterday when Deputy Ó Caoláin made his point. I wish to state clearly that we are listening closely to the comments of Sinn Féin's representatives. We are waiting for a response to a meeting attended by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Justice, Equality and Law Reform some weeks ago. In light of everything that has happened, I think Sinn Féin will understand if we reserve judgment. Its members have to accept that their words cannot easily be accepted at face value. It will take much more than words to rebuild trust, but we are listening. We all know what must be done. We all know what we want Sinn Féin and the IRA to do. Their actions have to be capable of being understood in clear terms by the people of this island. We have said we want no ambiguity, no fudge and no messing. Let us be straight and let us get to the bottom line.

I welcome what Deputy Ó Caoláin said yesterday, but what we want and what must happen is an end to paramilitary and criminal activity by the IRA and the decommissioning of IRA arms. We can try to restart the process if that is achieved. We will not be able to do so if that is not achieved. I do not want to make the same points every day, but I reiterate that we have to achieve the aims I have mentioned. Having received a security briefing yesterday, however, I am aware that these aims are not being achieved, unfortunately. In effect, large amounts of money are being hauled around the Republic of Ireland by various people. It is being laundered for the Provisional IRA. That is what we saw last week. I heard what the Deputy said yesterday. We have to reach a position from which we can move on. That is all I want to achieve. I am not interested in arguing about Sinn Féin's mandate or demonising that party — I just want to make progress and to get these things finished.

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