Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I totally condemn the attack on that office, as any right-minded person or any leader of any type be it at community level or political level would. It is disastrous that these things happen. I am not aware of the programme and did not see it. I have no knowledge of that to which the Deputy has referred. I will do some research as a result of what he has said. I fully respect his point and in all my answers on this issue I have not said otherwise. The right of the membership of Sinn Féin to take its decision on this issue is a matter for that political party.

The Government has pressed and will continue to press for clear tangible progress in this area in Northern Ireland in the period ahead. For its part, Sinn Féin recognises that the issue of policing must be resolved. It realises that it must take the necessary steps and face up to the policing issue, which we respect. There have been positive developments on that score, for example the recent remarks on the need to resolve this issue by Mr. Gerry Adams, to which the Deputy has already alluded, as well as unprecedented comments by the Sinn Féin leadership on criminality. There are also reports of some thawing of attitudes towards the PSNI in strong Nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. While these are helpful developments they represent only a start and there are many more steps to take.

The Deputy asked what we will do. We will continue to press for greater movement in the coming months at every level — at prime minister level between the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister; at foreign affairs level between the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and his colleagues in the UK, at justice minister level and at strand one level, in which I have been involved. We will use every possible opportunity to ensure progress is made. It is critically important that the political parties, including Sinn Féin, move forward, have confidence, respect their mandate, deliver on their obligations and participate to sustain the structures that will create the Executive, which will operate with a democratic mandate and deliver services to the people of Northern Ireland who deserve it. That can be achieved between now and November if we all move forward together.

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