Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

I opposed the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 when it came before the Dáil and I also oppose the renewal of the various sections today. The Act was introduced after the unspeakable atrocity that was the Omagh bombing. At the time I pointed out the united response of rage and revulsion of ordinary people on the island as a whole and beyond the island, but in particular of the ordinary people, Protestant and Catholic, in Northern Ireland, did more to isolate the crazed organisations which seek to sow sectarian division than any raft of repressive legislation.

The Socialist Party and its antecedents over a 40 year period have a proud record of championing the unity of working-class people in Northern Ireland and active opposition to sectarian division, sectarianism and sectarian organisations. It also opposed the oppression coming from the British establishment and the tactics and methods of the paramilitary organisations, whether loyalist or republican, pointing out they would not bring forward the interests of the ordinary working class people of the North or find a resolution to the situation in the North and the national question. We have been vindicated with regard to these issues.

I am opposed to giving the State major repressive powers which can be used in any direction should the State require it at a particular time. I refer in particular to the renewal of section 6 of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 which provides, "A person who directs, at any level of the organisation's structure, the activities of an organisation in respect of which a suppression order has been made under section 19 of the Act of 1939 shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life."

This brings us to sections 18 and 19 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939. Section 19 states if and whenever the Government is of the opinion that any particular organisation is an unlawful organisation it shall be lawful for the Government in the public interest to declare that such organisation be suppressed. This relates to organisations outlined in section 18 of the 1939 Act. According to section 18, "In order to regulate and control in the public interest the exercise of the constitutional right of citizens to form associations, it is hereby declared that any organisation which [under section 18(f)] "promotes, encourages, or advocates the non-payment of moneys payable to the Central Fund or any other public fund or the non-payment of local taxation shall be an unlawful organisation within the meaning and for the purposes of this Act."

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