Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's response and concur entirely with his view that the Special Criminal Court has been a key component of democracy's response to serious intimidation from paramilitaries, drug barons and evil people who would otherwise stalk this land and intimidate jurors. The Special Criminal Court should be used in exceptional circumstances. The fact that there are three judges goes some way towards meeting some of the concerns some people might have but at the end of the day, it did put away the murderers of Veronica Guerin and Garda Jerry McCabe and other serious evil criminals. I understand that there may be different views in this House and that there may be a minority and a majority report before the Minister. That is from reading reports in the media. I welcome the fact that the Minister will give the full light of day to the report very soon. It goes to the heart of how this country deals with this very serious threat in the very exceptional circumstances where it must be used.

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