Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the State's primary duties is to ensure its citizens and institutions are protected from attack. That is the purpose of the motions before us. By supporting them, my party is reaffirming that principle in our Parliament. Since these motions first came before this House, this island has been transformed beyond recognition through the Good Friday Agreement and the establishment of a power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland. However, the relative peace we now enjoy cannot be taken for granted. As is clear from the stalled implementation of the Stormont House Agreement, considerable work remains to be done to integrate the two communities in Northern Ireland. The institutions are still fragile and a significant threat remains to the peace process as a result of the activities of what are referred to as dissident republicans. These groups do not have any real support on the ground, whether North or South of the Border. They are fighting against the democratic wishes of the people as expressed in the 32-county referendum on the Good Friday Agreement. To a large extent, the actions of these republicans are cover for drug dealing and racketeering. However, even though these dissident republicans do not have support, they are none the less capable of inflicting terrible damage. A dissident republican group was responsible for the worst atrocity of the Troubles in Omagh in 1998.

The amendments to the Offences against the State Act introduced by the then Fianna Fáil Government in the aftermath of the Omagh bombing were necessary at the time. Unfortunately, we believe they are still necessary today. We cannot lower our guard or lessen our vigilance in the face of this ongoing threat. I have no doubt most Members would prefer that our laws were normalised and that the provisions were unnecessary. However, we cannot take that chance. The only time we should consider lowering our guard is when the dissident republicans have abandoned their campaign of violence and crime. I ask them to recognise the democratic wishes of the Irish people by laying down their guns and ceasing their violence. This is why Fianna Fáil supports the resolutions being brought before the Houses of the Oireachtas by the Minister for Justice and Equality. We believe that the legislation should be extended for a further 12 months from 17 June 2015.

It is also proposed to extend section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009. This legislation was introduced by Fianna Fáil as a response to organised crime. It provides that certain crimes will be prosecuted before the Special Criminal Court rather than a judge and jury. The right to a trial by jury is an important aspect of the criminal justice system but this State cannot tolerate a situation whereby members of society who are asked to be jurors are exposed to intimidation and threats of violence from gangland figures. For that reason we agree that the section should be extended. The recent shootings in Dublin demonstrate the continuing need for this law. Gangland criminals will do anything to increase their profits from selling drugs. If they thought interfering with a jury would prevent them from going to prison, they would be unlikely to hesitate in intimidating and harassing jurors. We cannot tolerate such a possibility. For that reason, Fianna Fáil will support the extension of section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009. Discretion should remain with the Director of Public Prosecutions as to whether a person should be sent for trial by the Special Criminal Court. We do not believe it is appropriate that serious gangland figures should be tried by juries. Their violence and organised crime have deprived them of the right to trial by jury. We should not apologise for denying them this right because the safety of this country and its citizens depends on it.

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