Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senators from my side, and also Senator O'Toole, for their understanding and supportive comments. I would like to make three general observations. Everything that Fr. Alex Reid or myself and others did from the months following the Enniskillen bomb to the months following the Omagh bomb had one purpose only, to establish a lasting peace in Ireland that would be an alternative to violent conflict and to the type of atrocities of which I have spoken. There are, of course, moral questions which can legitimately be raised about such contacts, but as the Taoiseach said last year, if it were wrong for governments even to countenance such communications, there would be very little prospect of securing peace and it is highly unlikely that there would have been any peace process. In conclusion, I ask those inside the House and outside it to see any meetings that took place – they were very few – in the context of the Government's absolute determination to bring all paramilitary activity to an end, by persuasion if possible and by other means if necessary.