Tony Kett (Fianna Fail)

The Government has always made it clear that these prisoners will not be dealt with under the Good Friday Agreement. That has been reiterated on numerous occasions and the Minister reaffirmed it this evening. If one needed to inform oneself as to the bona fides of the Government, one would need only consider the stout defence it mounted when these prisoners went to the Supreme Court seeking to have themselves included under the Good Friday Agreement. Needless to say, the Government won its case.

Everyone in the House is of the opinion that these individuals should serve their sentences. No right thinking person would say otherwise. However, the Government is involved in complex discussions aimed at trying to bring about acts of completion on all sides and it must take account of what might, perhaps, be unpalatable actions in order to achieve its goals. If men can see their way, in the manner of that wonderful Garda Ben O'Sullivan, to the development of a situation where that may happen, the rest of us should find it in our hearts to look the same way.