Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Has the Government any information which the Taoiseach can give to the House on the involvement of the IRA in the money laundering activities that were the subject of much Garda activity and publicity last February? Will the Taoiseach refer back to the business of secret meetings with Mr. Adams? Does he accept there is a thin line as to whether these meetings were secret or private? Does he accept there may be questions about the wisdom of such meetings given the belief in other quarters that such meetings can lead to various deals on the side, understandings and so on that may give rise to difficulties later? Can the Taoiseach point to anything on the record of the House, before that particular story appeared in the Irish Independent, where he advised the House about what he calls private meetings and what the Irish Independent calls secret meetings? I have not been able to put my finger on an instance of the Taoiseach advising the House of these meetings. Have there been similar meetings with any of the other parties to the peace process or is Mr. Adams the only one who has had these private or secret meetings with the Taoiseach?

Has the Taoiseach raised the recent report of the Independent Monitoring Commission with Mr. Adams at any of these meetings? I presume I can take it the Taoiseach accepts the report of the IMC which suggests the IRA is still training, recruiting, gathering intelligence, engaging in punishment attacks and so on. Did the Taoiseach ask Mr. Adams to reconcile this with his other public statements? Will the Taoiseach indicate what is his bottom line in terms of the anticipated imminent statement from the IRA? Is he satisfied that as a result of these meetings with Mr. Adams, it is clearly understood that this is make or break time for the Agreement and that either the republican movement understands that it takes the final steps into the democratic arena or it does not and that a halfway house will not provide any opportunity for the institutions in Northern Ireland to be revived and refurbished?

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