Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Yes, I think that is the number we are talking about. If it arises, we are talking about very low numbers. Some of these may have left about 30 years ago and have resettled in various parts of the world. How many of these will reappear? The scheme does not cover the killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe. There are a few of those but they are not covered by the scheme, they are excluded, the same as the prison release.

Last week the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, gave details of how he proposes to operate the scheme in this jurisdiction. It may be worth repeating that here. An eligibility body will be established to deal with these cases. Qualifying persons will generally cover persons who, before 10 April 1998, committed offences in connection with the situation in Northern Ireland, once these persons are not affiliated to or support organisations which do not maintain a complete unequivocal ceasefire. Obviously people who had been involved with the splinter groups would not be eligible. The eligibility body will determine whether a person is a qualifying person and shall notify the Minister who in turn will submit cases to Government with a view to recommending that the President use her powers under Article 16.

It is intended that the scheme in this jurisdiction will operate in tandem with the operation of the provisions in the UK which has to await the enactment of legislation. That will take some months. I understand Prime Minister Blair made some announcement about this today. It will take some time before the scheme comes into operation. It will be a matter for the eligibility body to determine whether a person is eligible under the scheme. The criteria for eligibility mirrors the criteria that applied in determining whether persons were to be released early under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, that the offence was committed in connection with the situation in Northern Ireland and that the person in question is not affiliated to and does not support organisations which do not maintain a complete and unequivocal ceasefire.

Whatever about people being eligible in theory to apply under the scheme, in practice there is no reason to believe that people who were involved in some of the outrages are likely to come forward to avail of the scheme. On the other hand, it would obviously be invidious even if the issue was never likely to arise. The scheme applies only to members of the Provisional IRA. I emphasise that the operation of the scheme will not affect the search to find the truth in regard to some of the outrages that happened over the years, such as the Dublin-Monaghan bombing, the Omagh bombing and others. I think that answers the Deputy's question.

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