Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Ba mhaith liom an t-am atá agam a roinnt leis an Teachta Boyle.

Arís i mbliana, tá mé ag impí ar Theachtaí, sula gcaitheann siad vóta ar an rún seo, smaoineamh ar an gcreimeadh atá á dhéanamh de thairbhe na reachtaíochta seo ar chearta daonna agus sibhialta, agus ar shaol daonlathach sa Stát seo. Caithfidh aon Teachta a chuir luach ar bith ar dhaonlathas i dtús báire vótáil i gcoinne an rúin agus ansin gníomhú chun an tAcht seo agus an cód speisialta a théann leis a aisghairm ina iomláine.

Ní leor an méid atá sa tuairisc lenar ghlac an tAire os ár gcomhair chun cíoradh ceart a dhéanamh ar na forálacha mídhaonlathacha seo. Cad is fiú liosta de cé chomh minic is a úsáideadh na forálacha éagsúla má táimid in ainm cíoradh ceart a dhéanamh ar oibríocht an Achta éigeandála seo, an Achta um Chiontaí in aghaidh an Stáit? Níl go leor ama agam inniu chun plé ceart nó mion a dhéanamh ar na forálacha éagsúla agus an tslí a dtagann siad salach ar bhunchearta daonlathacha. Dírím aird ar cheithre alt, 6, 8, 12 agus 17, trí cinn acu nár úsáideadh le trí bliana anuas ar a laghad, agus ceann amháin, alt 6, nár úsáideadh ach uair amháin. Léiríonn sé sin nach bhfuil siad riachtanach, fiú.

Even leaving aside the issues of disproportionality and non-compliance with human rights, the necessity for this legislation has not been demonstrated. The use of draconian provisions such as the measure proposed for renewal today is no longer tenable. A new political dispensation has come into being on this island and Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley will presently take up their positions as Deputy First Minister and First Minister in a power sharing Executive. It is time for this anti-republican Progressive Democrats Minister and his Government partners in Fianna Fáil to join the new dispensation. During last year's debate, the Minister rightly noted that the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement remains an ongoing challenge. However, the onus is on him and the Government to live up to their obligations under the agreement to deliver security and normalisation. For that reason, scrapping the Offences Against the State Act should be a goal for all in this House. Neither the provisions proposed for renewal nor the Act in its entirety has any place in the present or future of this island.

The Minister sees imaginary threats to the security of the State when it suits his agenda to do so and his desire to hang on to this legislation regardless of the realities on the ground stems from that tactic. Last June, he attempted to justify the renewal of these sections on the basis of an Islamic fundamentalist threat or, in his own words, "the newer and more sinister forms of international terrorism, in particular jihadist terrorism". While I presume he was relying on so-called intelligence from the Garda special branch to substantiate his claim, I cannot know that for certain because there is no independent oversight of this area of policing. This grave deficiency lends itself to the sort of political policing we have come to know and expect from the Garda special branch. I need only observe the fabrication of evidence and intelligence in County Donegal to reinforce my concerns. Garda special branch intelligence often relies on information from the United States, but consider the war that country fought in Iraq based on intelligence about weapons of mass destruction.

If public security is to be promoted and protected, it must be seen as part of a comprehensive human security approach. Such an approach was formalised by the Commission on Human Security at the UN millennium summit in order to promote a shift in security thinking away from the exclusive and invariably militarist focus on states and towards the daily insecurities experienced by most people, such as poverty, disease, conflict, human rights abuses and economic and environmental uncertainty. If this Government really wants to protect Irish people, it should reverse its current foreign policy in order to pursue a policy of positive neutrality and end the use of Shannon Airport by US troops in their so-called war on terror.

The apathy of most of the Opposition on this matter and the ill-advised enthusiasm of others for these measures has obvious negative implications for Irish society. We need a fuller debate on the effects of this legislation over a period longer than the one granted to us each year. Given the implications of these provisions, the short amount of time available to discuss them is meaningless.

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