Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Early last year, the Taoiseach volunteered to bring forward an all-party Oireachtas motion in support of the Ballymurphy families and although we did not ask for this, I very much welcomed it. When I asked him about it some months later, because it had not been brought forward, on 1 July, he said the Government was working on a comprehensive motion which would be discussed with Deputies Martin and Adams shortly. Again, time passed but ní tharla rud ar bith ó shin. In February of this year, he said he would have it in March. It is now May and we still do not have this. I would like a debate on the North.

On 24 March of this year, the Taoiseach agreed to hold a debate on the North. As he should know, in recent weeks there has been a sustained and concerted attack on Sinn Féin representatives. There have been four attacks on the homes and property of Sinn Féin councillors and members. There have been seven death threats. The cars belonging to two Derry Sinn Féin councillors were destroyed last night outside their homes and the car of another activist, Sean McMonagle, was burned. The Taoiseach knows that Frank McCabe junior, son of a Sinn Féin member, Frank McCabe in south Armagh, was blinded in one eye by a booby trap bomb on the family property. The home of the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, was paint-bombed last week. There were death threats yesterday and bomb alerts at the homes of Martina Anderson MEP, and Raymond McCartney, MLA. This morning, when I was on my to the 1916 commemoration at Arbour Hill, there was a bomb alert at my home. I got word that police sniffer dogs were there and they were checking out the precincts of the house.

We need to discuss all of these matters, particularly in the light of tomorrow’s election and its likely repercussions if the Tories get in because of their commitment to leave the EU but also their adherence to austerity and so on. Will the Taoiseach set a date for the debate as soon as possible so that we can discuss all of these very important issues? The silence on these attacks from the Government and others in this Chamber, who are sometimes very loud in making one-sided remarks about the North, is deafening. Will the Taoiseach let us know the Government’s position on these threats and attacks?

See this speech in context