Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I abhor as much as anybody in this House the murder of Detective Garda McCabe and the attempted murder of Detective Garda Ben O'Sullivan and that is so from the day it happened. It was stated at the time by the then Government, and by the then Opposition which was ourselves, that those who committed the murder — nobody knew on the day who did it — would not be treated in the same way as other prisoners. That has happened. It is a nonsense to talk about early release. We are at least six years on. Everybody else from the Provisional IRA has been released and they have not.