Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

A number of points have been made, including those by Deputy Rabbitte, and I have no doubt that all valid points will be considered. I am not being unreasonable about this. Our examination of the matter included the legal position. To the best of my knowledge, although I may be subject to correction, I am almost certain that it was not just the issue of the late Jerry McCabe which decided that this was the best legal way to go. I do not think that was the consideration and although I am subject to correction, I am fairly certain of that. We have a number of months in which to deal with the matter, but this is considered to be the best way to proceed, having considered the legal system. If valid points are made I will certainly not rule them out in advance. The Deputy will appreciate, however, that this matter has been examined for some considerable time because it has been known since 2001 that this must be dealt with. It was in the declaration two and a half years ago, so much legal thought has gone into it.

Whatever else I accuse Sinn Féin of, and I have accused them of many things, I do not think they were in a side deal trying to arrange amnesties for British soldiers. That certainly was not part of any discussions. As I said earlier, the position was that the British Government decided to include other matters in the Bill. My involvement in the discussions was on issues concerning OTRs. The British decided they had to do those things and they are doing so, but I will not sign up to matters on which I had no discussions. We dealt purely with the OTR issues. If valid points are made, however, I will always examine them.

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