Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his opening remarks about everybody who has been involved. Fr. Alex Reid and Rev. Good are people of the highest integrity and credibility and I hope people take note of what they said. There is a growing view that perhaps people will take note and that they will understand the job they have done and the assistance they have given.

My colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, met the Minister for Foreign Affairs, not the Prime Minister, of Colombia. He covered the issues in respect of the Colombia three from our side and in terms of our responsibilities. He also raised human rights and other issues generally.

There has been much sectarian violence over the past five or six weeks, particularly since 12 July and again from 10-12 September when the situation was very serious, certainly for a period of approximately 48 hours. That concerns us. There have been a number of sectarian acts on all sides that have not been helpful. The Deputy will appreciate that I have to try to be even-handed all the time. People from the Nationalist community and from the loyalist community correct uneven-handedness.

I condemn all sectarian acts. I condemn the sectarian attacks on Dr. Paisley's church in recent days when a number of windows were smashed. I condemn the loyalist protest last weekend at the blessing of Catholic graves in a municipal cemetery in Carnmoney in Antrim. That graveyard serves both Catholic and Protestant communities but loyalists are alleged to have threatened to exhume bodies and to urinate on the resting places of Catholics in a shared cemetery. Clearly, this is a particularly repulsive sectarian display which I condemn outright as I do all attacks. The loyalists groups appeared to make a comparison between the blessing ceremony and the previous forced re-routing of the Orange parade in Whiterock. All right-thinking people — Catholic, Protestant and neither — are repulsed by these so-called protests and our officials in Belfast will continue to monitor the situation. Whether committed by so-called Nationalists or so-called loyalists, I condemn all such attacks equally. It is appropriate for me as well as everybody else, to do that.

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