Margaret Conlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I raised this issue on the Adjournment on 24 October 2007 and it is good that we are having this debate today.

Once again, I extend my deepest sympathy to Paul Quinn's parents, Stephen and Briege, and to his family and friends who are seeking the truth about, and justice for, his murder. I welcome them to the Visitors Gallery today.

This murder was one of the most horrific crimes ever committed against anybody in this country. It takes only one person to kill another with one blow. This young man was lured to an isolated rural area and manhandled out to a farm shed where people with bats, crowbars and pick axe handles brutally ended his life. The point has been made that these savages did not mean to kill Paul Quinn but what other outcome could be expected when a gang of masked men repeatedly attacked one lonely man with weapons, as the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, said this morning?

Several politicians were quick to tell us that they knew who did not commit this awful atrocity. There are, however, people who know who did and who gave instructions for this savage act to be carried out. There are people with blood on their hands to whom conscience is alien. As a public representative for the Cavan-Monaghan constituency, where this heinous crime was carried out, I hope and expect that any honourable citizen of this island, North or South of the Border, who knew anything, will give such information to the Garda or the PSNI. I commend the Garda and the PSNI on their co-operation and dedication in the ongoing investigation into Paul's murder. It is a sign of significant progress when the recognised police forces on both sides of the Border work together with a common purpose.

I attended a public meeting in Castleblayney after Christmas, attended by hundreds from North and South of the Border, many from south Armagh. Their wish was to find justice and truth for Paul but also to be able to live and conduct their daily lives, to go where they liked, visit friends and family and socialise in a community not ruled by fear or intimidation. Unfortunately, there are still some members of this community who operate to their own laws and standards and this cannot and will not be tolerated in the Ireland of today.

Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, we have come a long way. We must not allow anything to undo this good work but in south Armagh we still have a good distance to travel. As a republican, I will always advocate a peaceful resolution to a problem. We have learned over the years that violence is not a resolution to any dispute or cause, and the people who committed this barbarous act are nothing but thugs. I commend the family of Paul Quinn on repeatedly calling for no retaliation. I repeat that call because retaliation would not serve any purpose or further the investigation.

As I said in my speech on the Adjournment last October, the wall of silence that surrounded the murder of Robert McCartney in Belfast must not be repeated in this case. Nobody in this country has the right to take the law into their own hands. In the McCartney case, the complete lack of respect for human life, coupled with walls of silence, has prevented a prosecution since that awful killing in Belfast, on a bleak day in January 2005. It is my earnest hope that this will not happen in this case.

I was happy before Christmas to facilitate the meetings of the parents of Paul Quinn with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Minister assured Stephen and Briege that the investigation was active and ongoing, an assertion repeated today. The Taoiseach said to Briege Quinn that the only criminals involved in this crime were the thugs who murdered Paul, with which I concur. It serves no purpose to politicise Paul's death. The central fact is the brutal death of a young man, an innocent life cruelly taken away by thugs who displayed no humanity or decency. These traits are alien to the savages who committed this crime.

I commend the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform for his commitment to ensuring an active investigation and the Garda and the PSNI for their vigour and determination in attempting to solve this heinous crime. I pledge that as a Deputy for this area, I will continue to highlight this issue at local and national level.

A life was wiped out by this murder. There was not merely one victim of this crime as a community is in mourning. Paul Quinn's friends, who unwittingly were forced to call Paul to his death, have been badly affected and some of them have received threats to their own lives. Ultimately, his family remains devastated by this heinous crime and must live with the consequences of the ruthless and savage actions of those thugs for the rest of their lives. No parent should be obliged to endure what Stephen and Briege Quinn are going through. They never will be able to grieve properly while the perpetrators of this crime remain at large. Were justice to be done, the perpetrators brought to account and a new peace to emerge in south Armagh, it would be a lasting memorial to the life of Paul Quinn.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

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