Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I hope Deputy Rabbitte believes me when I say I did not read the interview. I will read it, but I do not need to read it to know that the Minister for Foreign Affairs has always been strong on criminality in all its forms and has never gone easy with anyone, on any side in Northern Ireland, or in his own Border region, who has been engaged in criminal activity. He has been one of the most outspoken people in that respect. I defend the Minister on that position. I worked with the SDLP and John Hume and Seamus Mallon when they courageously moved on policing and joined the policing boards. We worked with them on the legislative provisions to give those boards the necessary strength and to assist them. It is true that members of the SDLP, and other independent members, took great risks and were subjected to intimidation on these issues. The Government has always supported those people.

It has been the position of the Government that proper policing is needed to get away from vigilante activities and criminality in the North and to deal with the rising drugs problem. The only way to achieve that was to work on the basis of the Patten report, to reform what was the RUC and to develop the PSNI, as has happened. No police authority or organisation in the world is subject to so much scrutiny by an ombudsman and oversight officers and commissioners. Its leadership has worked extremely hard to implement that.

Sinn Féin and the other parties well know our position, as does the public. We would like to see them sign up to policing at the earliest possible date. Sinn Féin's position has been that when the devolution of policing Bill is passed and it sees the position in regard to working on the executive with the police it will deal with the issue. That is its stated position. There has been no deviation from, or change in that position.

Not having read the article I cannot tell whether the Deputy is taking this out of context but it is certainly out of context of what the Minister has often said at meetings and in this House. How that is interpreted in an article I cannot say until I have read it. Government policy on these issues is very clear. We want to see policing in Northern Ireland work and people involved in and committed to this. The Deputy asks what signal that sends out to the DUP. I remind the Deputy that the DUP's stated position is that policing should not be devolved for a considerable number of years, which is not compatible with the position of the two Governments.

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