Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

The Government will not seek to sideline any people who raise their voice constructively and peacefully on behalf of their community. No one needs a gun in his or her hand to have his or her concerns and those of his or her community listened to. Any leaders who stay on the path of confrontation and violence should note it is the surest way to hold back the development of the community they claim to represent. I therefore reiterate the call for all remaining paramilitary groups to engage with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning with a view to decommissioning their weapons along with standing down as paramilitary organisations. In that regard, I welcome this week's announcement by the LVF.

Those committed to violence on either side and in either jurisdiction must be met with the full force of the law. The eradication of paramilitarism is a priority concern of the Government. It is an easy and contemptible thing to exert power over one's neighbours through anxiety and fear or to intimidate people from their homes.

All the decent people of Northern Ireland have been held hostage long enough by the cowardly and criminal thuggery of the few on both sides. The Good Friday Agreement gives the framework that allows leaders on both sides to be courageous. We have already seen acts of considerable political bravery in the cause of peace. However, until we see the normalisation of society in Northern Ireland, we need political courage to be normal. We need condemnations of violence to be consistent and not selective. We must be proactive in challenging all the forms that sectarianism takes and must be consistently supportive of progressive political voices from all sectors of society in Northern Ireland.

As the Taoiseach has noted, this does not require anyone to give up his or her culture, identity or political ideals. It simply requires the peaceful expression of one's own culture, identity and political ideas as well as tolerance in both word and deed for those of others. The Government believes that if this challenge is taken up, the Good Friday Agreement can be the basis of a true fresh start for all the people of Northern Ireland in which no one is left behind, be they Protestant or Catholic, Nationalist or Unionist, in all parts of Northern Ireland.

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