Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution to this debate. Unfortunately, I did not get an opportunity to read the report placed before the House but I will certainly do so because I hope it will be very informative.

In the speech the Minister gave here today, she said that "The report also provides a brief assessment of the security situation" before going on to outline that there are constraints on what she can say. However, she did say that:

It is clear that the so-called dissident republicans, who have their origins in the Provisional IRA and INLA, continue to represent a threat. Despite the progress towards peace made over the years, they continue to seek to return to the fruitless violence of the past so we must continue to do all that we can to deal with this threat. Let no one be under any illusion that these groups do not represent a threat, albeit, thankfully, this is lower than in the past.

Obviously, I totally oppose violence. I always have. I remember getting involved in visiting republican prisoners back in the nineties because I believe in talk and in persuasion. I believe that those discussions played a role in ensuring ultimate agreement to the Good Friday Agreement. The work done during that period with the prisoners who then became persuaders towards the agreement was key.

Unlike in the other jurisdiction on this island, where totally different circumstances pertain, the situation here is that, looking at the actual record, there were 30 prisoners in the E block at Portlaoise Prison at the end of 2020. As the Minister knows, I am in discussions with the people who are there. I visit regularly and will continue to do so. There is one person awaiting extradition to the North but nobody has been convicted and gone in there. To the best of my knowledge, there is nobody on remand and nobody out on bail from the E block. The likelihood is that, by the end of next month, we will have four prisoners there.

That tells us something and that something is backed up by the work of the IRC, the independent reporting commission appointed by the two Governments and which is taking a two-pronged approach to this whole issue. One prong consists of the arms of justice, An Garda Síochána in this State, the courts and so on, following their procedures. On the other hand, as we all know, if you can persuade people to pursue another road, a political road, it is probably the most powerful road of all in ending violence. I have spoken to the Minister before on the key recommendation of the latest IRC report, appointing a facilitator to enter into dialogue with paramilitary groups, and she has done Trojan work on this.

I am also aware the challenge here was that we needed both states to agree to the appointment of such a person and that the Minister has worked hard to progress this. From all my dealings in this regard - and I am dealing with human beings and dealing with real people - the evidence is there in the figures I have just outlined that progress is being made by persuasion. If it was quite as simple as the very stark picture here it would be hard to see that nobody would have come before the courts and been incarcerated in the E wing in the last number of years. We need to renew our efforts to once and for all persuade all republicans of all colours that the best way forward is through peaceful means. It has been successful in the past and I hope it will be successful in the future.

The Minister’s report is in three sections. It talks about international terrorism. I must confess very little knowledge of that, but I accept an event could take place in this jurisdiction at any time and we would have to have the wherewithal to deal with it. Then there is the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009, which is focused on gangland crime. I accept that is a major challenge in our society, especially the scourge of drugs. Drugs are a challenge everywhere. They are a challenge in the prisons. They are a challenge in society. People from all classes and parts of our society are using illegal drugs. I wonder whether they ever question the provenance of these drugs and ask who brought them in and wonder what criminality was involved and what illegal profitability there is and of the misery of people involved in these so-called recreational drugs. I find it very difficult to accept.

I join those who support the implementation of the review of the various Acts involved here. I notice this involved an analysis and the Minister said she is going to bring a response to the review to Government in due course. Whether it is a very trite question or a very serious one, when Departments say "in due course", I ask whether somebody will give me an interpretation of what is meant by "in due course", because it is literally as long as a piece of string. It would be very useful if we were given some indication of a timescale in which we would get this report, what it is intended will change and what new legislation will be brought in to replace the present Acts.

Tá go leor ceisteanna anseo. Creidim féin go bhfuil dul chun cinn nach beag déanta chun cur ina luí ar dhaoine gan a bheith ag plé le foréigean leis an bpoblachtachas a chur chun cinn. Is dóigh go bhfuil go leor eile gur féidir a dhéanamh. Creidim féin gurb í an uirlis is tábhachtaí leis an obair seo a dhéanamh, atá cruthaithe mar seo go stairiúil, ná caint agus caidreamh. Impím ar an Aire coinneáil uirthi, go mórmhór agus muid ag ceapadh go mbeidh rialtas an-nua agus an-difriúil sa mBreatain faoi cheann cúpla seachtain, cur ina luí air an t-áisitheoir seo a cheapadh, mar atá molta ag an IRC, dream atá ceaptha ag an dá Rialtas agus ag an bhFeidhmeannas ó Thuaidh, le comhairle a chur orthu maidir le cúrsaí paraimíleata a bhaineann leis na Trioblóidí. Dá n-éistfeadh muid leis tar éis é a bhunú, bheadh dul chun cinn an-mhaith déanta agus d'fhéadfadh an lá teacht nach mbeadh éinne sa bpríosún i ngeall ar chúrsaí poblachtanacha ó Thuaidh nó ó Dheas.

Tá cúinsí ó Thuaidh atá thar a bheith míshásúil ó thaobh an dlí de. Tá daoine ag fanacht suas le hocht mbliana ar bhannaí. Tá daoine ag caitheamh trí agus ceithre bliana sa bpríosún ag fanacht ar thriail. Tá sé in am deireadh a chur leis na scannail sin. Tá na coinníollacha príosúin go dona. Tá tuarascáil tar éis tuarascála tar éis a rá go bhfuil na coinníollacha príosúin atá i bhfeidhm i dTeach Roe i Maigh gCabraí thar a bheith míshásúil agus níl aon ghníomh déanta. Tá sé thar am gníomh a dhéanamh. Dá ndéanfaí gníomh a dhéanamh, laghdódh sé an foréigean seachas cur leis. Ag deireadh an lae, nach é sin an aidhm atá againn uilig - deireadh a chur le foréigean poblachtanaigh sa tír seo?

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