Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I, too, convey my sympathy to the Quinn family on the brutal murder of their son Paul outside Castleblayney some months ago. By any standards the murder was extremely brutal. There have been very brutal murders in the Border area and across the Six Counties over the past 30 years but this was as brutal as they come. Paul Quinn was 21 and was lured to his death in dreadful circumstances. One can only speculate on the physical and emotional impact of the murder on his family .

It is simply unacceptable that this type of brutal murder could be perpetrated on anybody. Everybody, young and old, should be entitled to go about his or her daily business without feeling intimidated and without the fear of abduction or being lured to his or her death. One should be able to live, travel, work and socialise in one's community without the fear of being intimidated or frightened in any way.

The reality is that the basic tenets of democracy are at stake. Peace in Northern Ireland has been a long time coming. We all welcome it and are delighted it is bedding in so well and successfully but the fundamental principle at stake is the right of the individual to be able to go about his or her daily life and to have his or her interests protected by the institutions in his or her area.

The people who perpetrated the murder are thugs by any standards. We all exhort anybody with information that would help both the Garda and PSNI in bringing the perpetrators to justice to make it available as quickly as possible. I congratulate the Garda and PSNI on their intensive work in investigating the case and compiling the evidence. We all hope they will be able to bring about a successful prosecution. This would help in some way to ease the pain that has been visited on the Quinn family.

The circumstances of the investigation into the murder, which occurred near the Border just outside Castleblayney, and the cohesive nature of the work of the Garda and PSNI bode well for the future of peace and harmony in the area. We all hope the two police forces are successful and that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, thereby sending out a signal to anybody else who wants to contemplate indulging in such activity that it has no place in the Ireland of 2008.

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