Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

The Leader will be aware that the Government repeatedly tells parties throughout the island and in Britain that there can be no renegotiation of the Good Friday Agreement. How is it, credible, therefore, for the Government to tell us that there can be no change to the Agreement when last October, in discussions with the IRA, it attempted to change the Agreement, to which we all signed up and accepted in 1998?

A commitment was made to both Houses in 1998 that the brutal murderers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe would not be let out of prison under the early release programme. That commitment was also made to Mrs. McCabe in 1999 in correspondence from the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. In the context of the latest revelations, which were confirmed today by the president of Sinn Féin, that policy had the full support not only of this House, but also of the Irish people. The Government is now attempting to change that policy without recourse to the McCabe family or this House.

The Government's actions have been disgraceful in the circumstances and it is vital that a statement is made on the matter by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Michael McDowell, who has been huffing and puffing about the IRA over the past four months although he and his like were involved in secret negotiations last October to secure the release of the killers in question. This is terrible and the House needs to debate the matter.

It is a certainty that when a person puts his life on the line for this country, we, as citizens of a republic, have an obligation to defend the memory of that person, to ensure the courts uphold the law and that those responsible for crimes against that person are adequately charged and serve their time in prison. The memory of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe has not been honoured in any way by the actions of the Government and the revelations about those actions over the past 24 hours. We need an urgent debate on this matter not only to maintain the integrity of this House and this Republic, but also the integrity of the peace process itself.