Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

The Taoiseach yesterday defended the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he stated the Minister acted in defence of the security of the State. He would not elaborate or give reasons for that belief, or outline the threat to the security of the State. The Taoiseach asked us to wait for the Minister's subsequent statement. The Minister entered the House to deliver a fanciful fairytale.

The Minister repeated without substantiation his claim that a named citizen, Frank Connolly, was in Colombia on a false passport. Mr. Connolly has not been charged with this offence or any other offence which I know of, let alone convicted of it. The Minister linked his allegations to the Colombia three, and he went on to claim that the purpose was to train FARC guerillas in return for large amounts of money for the IRA. He then compounded his allegations against Frank Connolly, again without a shred of evidence, by claiming he was central to this plot. I believe the plot to be a figment of the Minister's imagination.

Does the Taoiseach recall that even the corrupt judicial system in Colombia could not convict the three men of the training of FARC guerillas? Does the Taoiseach recall that the Colombian Government's case collapsed ignominiously and it had to resort to a secret appeals process, where the defendants were not even represented, to overturn a verdict reached in open court? The judicial process heaped further international discredit on the Colombian judicial system.

What exactly was the threat to the State, according to the Taoiseach? Was it the fantasy of the IRA using money from Colombia to subvert democracy, or was it the case that the Taoiseach viewed the threat from the Centre for Public Inquiry, with Frank Connolly as CEO, as greater to the political interest of the Minister, Deputy McDowell, the Progressive Democrats and the Government?

Will the Taoiseach confirm that the Minister, Deputy McDowell, cleared with the Cabinet the proposed meeting with Chuck Feeney and the documentation he showed to Mr. Feeney? Was the Cabinet shown exactly what the Minister proposed to show to Mr. Feeney? Where did the Minister get the documentation? In his address to the House yesterday the Minister said the document was in the possession of the Department of Foreign Affairs yet subsequently, under questioning from Deputies, he said he received it from the Garda Síochána, something he had earlier discounted, if I recall correctly.

What exactly is the threat to the security of the State that has led the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to take this unprecedented action, with the potentially serious consequences it must have for the individual rights of all citizens?

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