Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the various Members who contributed to this debate. In an ideal world we would not need offences against the State legislation but the experience of this State since 1937 has been that we need such legislation. Far from being a historical failure, it was a historical success in preserving our neutrality from 1939 to 1945 when some organisations were determined to ally themselves with the Axis powers and undermine it. It was a success in the 1950s when an ill-judged Border campaign was conducted. It also assisted this State throughout the terrible atrocities that took place in Northern Ireland from 1969 onwards. Therefore, to suggest the legislation is a historical failure is a mistake.

What we are discussing is the extension of legislation which was enacted by this House in 1998 on foot of the Omagh bombing. It is important to keep that perspective in mind in regard to the motion. Were we not to agree this motion today, as advocated by some Deputies, in any court proceedings that take place in the years ahead where an adjudication is to take place on persons complicity or involvement in the Omagh bombing, the legislation expressly providing for that could not be used against them. That is the practical reality facing us in this House today. Were we not to enact this resolution, we would be saying that the various inferences which the courts can draw in regard to suspects brought or persons charged before them in relation to that particular matter could not be drawn by them. In other words, we would be saying that the considered view of the Oireachtas in 1998 as to how persons should be brought to justice in regard to this episode should no longer apply to individual perpetrators of those terrible offences. I do not believe that as a proposition is stateable. Naturally, the debate has ranged far and wide over wider topics. That I understand and I will deal with many of the questions raised, but on that simple ground alone we must extend this resolution.

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