Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I have already moved the amendment. Most of what is being said on all sides of the House tonight, particularly by the Minister, every reasonable and moderate person on the island would subscribe to. The point was made by the motion's proposer that the Garda is an unarmed force which has given this country tremendous service. Armed or unarmed, it certainly deserves 100% support from the Government and the Oireachtas. Anything that might in any way impinge on that requires very careful and measured consideration.

Many of us had great difficulty with the Good Friday Agreement. However, it was supported by a majority of the people on this island, and as democrats we must accept the outcome. Apart from the ceasefire, which I would not understate as a significant step forward, there has not been the progress envisaged by all the people who supported those proposals through the referendum, North and South.

It must be credited to the authors of the Agreement and those who worked extremely hard to achieve it that it was not done easily. Ten years ago, Albert Reynolds invested tremendous energy and political courage in bringing matters to that stage, and that must be acknowledged. When he left Government, that was lost, and we reverted to where we had been. The Bertie Ahern Government made tremendous and successful strides to put matters back together. It is certainly a prize which most reasonable people would have wanted. It achieved significant improvements in the political and social environment in Ireland, not least between North and South.

Not everything is the fault of Sinn Féin or the IRA. Failure on demilitarisation is certainly something that has not assisted the process. Decommissioning and the umpteen attempts certainly did not help. That also gave rise to apprehensions within the Unionist community, which in turn undermined the structures being put in place because they were not being supported. I was recently struck by a discussion I had with an elected representative of the DUP, who readily acknowledged to me when talking about paramilitarism that they had not been as vocal as they should in condemning that of the loyalist groups, which have had far greater levels of activity since the Agreement than was the case before.

Politicians of all shades must condemn all elements of paramilitarism. Tonight we are condemning IRA activities, and that is right. Presently I will explain some of the other reasons we should be doing so, which may not have been mentioned. It is also fair that it be done in a balanced way so that all those involved in paramilitarism are aware that society, their Governments and particularly their elected representatives on all sides will not countenance, support or condone it, and will take every measure to prevent and stop it.

Going beyond paramilitarism, the Minister referred to criminal activity. I take one example from my own constituency. Apparently in the run-up to the last election when Sinn Féin had selected its candidates, within that party in Wexford there was a strong body of opposition because of alleged activities in the drug trade. It was kept quiet and only came to light in the recent past when a Circuit Court case was taken involving a former member of Sinn Féin who had been beaten and intimidated by another member. He sued that member and Sinn Féin headquarters and was awarded €17,000 compensation for his wife and himself because of the intimidation. I asked publicly for Sinn Féin to clarify the position. The news broke prior to the party's Ard-Fheis and a statement was issued by the chairman of the party accusing Fianna Fáil of infiltrating Sinn Féin and spying on it and asserting that this was the cause of the difficulties. I wish we had that level of ingenuity within Fianna Fáil in Wexford. Unfortunately, we do not. We use more transparent means of pursuing our political activities.