Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I, too, am long enough here to know that when Taoisigh were being criticised for reading transcripts, it was not concerning the security of the State. I do not want to retrace this territory but the Minister for Foreign Affairs said only a few weeks ago that he foresaw Sinn Féin in Government, probably with Fianna Fáil, sooner than people realised. The Taoiseach stated last weekend that "Sinn Féin could not be excluded from the Belfast Agreement, despite the discovery of the IRA's recent criminality". In fact, paragraph 25 of the Agreement states: "Those who hold office should use only democratic, non-violent means, and those who do not should be excluded or removed from office under these provisions." This is black and white.

Should the acid test of Deputy Ó Caoláin's statement yesterday, which presumably arose from the Sinn Féin executive meeting on Saturday, not be the willingness of the leadership of that party to instruct its members to turn in the killers of Robert McCartney? This should be the acid test if there is to be any credibility attached to the statement. Deputy Kenny has referred to hearing the sisters of Robert McCartney on radio this morning as they described the gruesome, mafia-style killing and the swagger of those bully boys who dominate working class nationalist communities through terror, fear and punishment beatings. I am fearful that we will drift back into a position whereby we do not exclude for the sake of not doing so and engage in the same creative ambiguity and confusion as before. It is important that this issue be clarified once and for all. We should regard this as an opportunity to do so rather than as a betrayal of the peace process.

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