Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Those questions deal with the situation in Northern Ireland. I wanted to clarify the position.

I join the Taoiseach in welcoming the devolution of justice and policing powers to the Northern Ireland Administration. I also welcome the appointment of Mr. David Ford, MLA, as Northern Ireland Minister for Justice. I wish Mr. Ford well in his new portfolio.

The explosions that took place at Hollywood and Newry are extremely worrying. In recent times explosives have been found and certain incidents were prevented from happening. I appreciate that the Taoiseach is constrained to some degree in the context of the information he can impart to the House in respect of the security situation. However, will he indicate how serious are the activities of dissident republican groups? How confident is he that the security and police forces in this jurisdiction and Northern Ireland will be able to deal with the situation and ensure that what is happening at present does not continue? How confident is he that they can ensure that the attempt that is clearly being made to undermine the institutions in Northern Ireland will not succeed and that people will not be seriously injured or worse as a result of the type of activities to which I refer?

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