Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

This motion is very difficult in the context of having met with the McCartney family, acknowledging and identifying in every way possible with the situation in which they find themselves. The sisters of the late Robert McCartney and his partner, Bridgeen, it must been acknowledged have been an inspiration to us all to uphold justice with clarity, without ambiguity and without being a prisoner of whatever conditioning any of us have picked up along the way. The lesson I have learned from the McCartney family is that Dáil Éireann can do nothing other than recommend that people go to the PSNI. To do anything else would indicate a lack of respect for the laws which people voted for and the institutions of the State here or those in the North, which were copper-fastened by the Good Friday Agreement, and were only to be changed having set that reference point in place.

The reason we are here is to ask why people are not coming forward to give evidence. People are scared and the question of why they are scared must be answered here tonight. There is no doubt that they are scared of the summary killings, beatings, intimidation and the harassment of family members. They are also scared when even former Sinn Féin members such as Martin Cunningham are derided by Sinn Féin members on his council when he called for justice. I am sure people do not need to be reminded of the various atrocities perpetrated by loyalists, republicans or state forces but people are scared.

I was in Belfast at the weekend and found that people cannot accept that Sinn Féin is serious about the policing issue given that the party knows members of the Provisional IRA have gone to the police with their solicitors following car crashes, burglaries and so on. The police have been there and republicans are dealing with the police at one level. Therefore, it is important that it is taken into account. People find it hard to accept that this is anything other than cold-blooded murder when, whatever about the orders given to kill Robert McCartney and attempt to murder Brendan Devine, an order was certainly given to undertake a forensically sophisticated clean-up afterwards. People also find it hard to see this murder as anything other than a calculated attempted to exert control on the community. Why was no ambulance called? Only for the passing police patrol, we would be discussing two murders tonight.

This vicious murder and attempted murder brings into sharp and inescapably clear relief a dual reality in regard to the definition of what a crime is and the constitutional definition of a crime. We must go beyond that. Due to this dual reality, the Dáil is not singing from the same hymn sheet with regard to what justice is and how to achieve it. This day of reckoning was bound to come. Now it is here. I appeal to Sinn Féin, in the interests of everybody, to seize the day and the challenge and recognise this reality. Justice will not be done unless the police is assisted with its inquiry in every way. This will in itself be a catalyst for transformed and fruitful progress towards the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, which is our common goal.

I urge the Government to recognise that we are still in a sensitive political situation. This debate is not the most helpful way of dealing with it. We should be dealing on a one-to-one basis. Opposition parties have been excluded from the process for too long.

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