Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

Yet again I thank Deputy Calleary for his support on this important motion. He referred to democracy. There is a basic and simple principle: a democracy must protect itself against the tyranny of those intent on its subversion. We must consider the reality in dealing with this legislation and resolution. We must consider the reality of what is needed to deal with the threat which, unfortunately, remains from subversive organisations such as the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA. The sad reality is that they have not gone away, you know. They are still there. There is no ideological approach that provides the immediate means to ensure we can protect our communities and our democracy against those intent on subverting it not only in this State, but in Northern Ireland and to protect the peace process, the institutions that have been established and those committed to them.

I remember being in the House many years ago when we considered the position of policing in Northern Ireland, the reality that the RUC largely represented one section of the community of Northern Ireland and the difficulties this created for the minority community in Northern Ireland. The world has substantially moved on. We now have the Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI, of which 30% of the membership come from the minority community in Northern Ireland. There are subversive groups intent on trying to ensure we do not have a police force in Northern Ireland that is truly representative of the communities there and on targeting members of the Catholic community who have joined that force to provide a cross-community force. They do not hesitate to target and kill people as we saw with the case of Constable Ronan Kerr and as we saw with the horrendous event that took place on or about Easter at which there were hooded gentlemen standing in a cemetery threatening more murder and mayhem and supported, unfortunately, by too many people who stood in the cemetery with them. They may be a small minority but it only takes a small minority to create murder and mayhem. In the context of considering the reality of this issue the report tabled before the House and the information contained in the proposed resolution clearly detail the use that has been made of this legislation. Its use has been made for the protection of people on this island.

We celebrated the fact that the Queen visited here. That was another big step, an additional block laid on the foundations of the reconciliation that has occurred and the peace process. However, behind the scenes as Minister for Justice and Equality and as Minister for Defence I was absolutely aware in the lead-in to and during the course of the visit that there were subversive organisations intent not merely on disrupting that visit, but on causing death and mayhem if they could during the course of that visit. That is the reality. The Garda and the Defence Forces did an extraordinary job. To do that job they required the assistance of the legislation available to them and which we seek to extend by resolution before the House.

I refer to what I said about the previous resolution. This is a human rights issue. It is about the fundamental human right of the vast majority on this island to go about their business without fear that a bomb might explode or that someone they know might be shot because a small group of individuals are not willing to accept the democratic verdict of the people throughout the island of Ireland. Such individuals reject the very peace process that the Deputies from Sinn Féin support in Northern Ireland, in this State and for which they advocate. One should not be blind to the reality that there is a small group of people intent on destroying that process. This resolution is about protecting that process, allowing it to continue to grow and allowing communities on both parts of this island to be safe from the type of subversive activity in which these groups engage. It is no more complicated than that.

As in the case of the previous motion, I wish it were different and that we did not need this resolution or these provisions. The sad reality is that we do need them and the facts and their use have confirmed that they are an important part of the armoury available to An Garda Síochána in protecting us all.

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