Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Will the Taoiseach state more clearly the level of credibility he attaches to Deputy Ó Caoláin's statement yesterday that "Sinn Féin is a party that rejects criminality of any kind"? Can the Taoiseach provide clarity in that regard? I acknowledge the statement and welcome it in so far as it goes, but I do not know what credibility to attach to it. Given that Sinn Féin's members cannot acknowledge that the murders of Jean McConville, Tom Oliver and Detective Garda Jerry McCabe were crimes, it seems that serious difficulties must attach to any statement of the kind made yesterday by Deputy Ó Caoláin. As the republican movement does not believe that any criminal act carried out in the course of its "duty" is a crime, it seems our difficulty is that we are on two different planets. Therefore, we do not know whether any credibility can be attached to Deputy Ó Caoláin's statement.

The Taoiseach has said that he, Deputy McDowell and the rest of the members of the Government are ad idem and of one mind about this matter, and that everybody knows now what he has been concerned about for the last two years. It seems, however, that everybody does not know that. If one traces back the statements, one will realise that it is not only now that there are contradictions within Government but that there have been inconsistencies regarding the criminality issue over the months leading up to 8 December. Rather than throwing our hands up in horror over the failed peace process, we should regard it is good that some of the ambiguity that surrounded it is now out it the open. It seems good that criminality is now the focus of debate among ordinary people in this jurisdiction and, one suspects, in Northern Ireland. That is a positive development. If it brings the Sinn Féin leadership to its senses, so much the better. However, I do not see the merit in the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, fully supporting the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, on Sunday and issuing a statement on Monday night censuring him over what he said in public.

The Government needs to speak with one voice but this is not happening. It seems that we do not want to exclude anyone to the point where we are again prepared to fudge. We did not exclude anyone, the republican movement excluded itself by its actions. As I stated yesterday, I do not support the Taoiseach's view that exclusion brought us 30 years of murder and mayhem. Thirty years of murder and mayhem brought us exclusion.

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