Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I signed off on the document the Leader launched some two years ago, which outlined the views of the Sub-committee on Seanad Reform. The foreword to this document states:

We strongly believe that the recommendations should be implemented in their totality as a package. The sub-committee therefore recommends that the Taoiseach should nominate two Senators from Northern Ireland, one from the Unionist and one from the Nationalist traditions. The sub-committee recommends that these two nominations should be specifically designated, either by way of a constitutional amendment or legislation.

If the Taoiseach proposes to bring forward a referendum on this issue only, many of the graduates who voted 25 years ago to have the rights of the third level sector recognised may be in disagreement. I have nothing against the proposal the Taoiseach is bringing to the House. However, it must be couched in terms of general reform. Will the Taoiseach consider this?

I disagree with the Taoiseach about the question of the release of the killers of Detective Garda McCabe. The Taoiseach is aware of the views of my party on this issue. In all of this, the Taoiseach has been sincere. I do not believe the suggestion made by Mr. Gerry Adams last weekend that the Taoiseach was not absolutely clear about this issue in 1998. As a Member of the other House in 1998, I recall a private discussion with the Taoiseach in which he said that he was clear in informing IRA representatives that the Agreement did not include the killers of Detective Garda McCabe.

I ask for some modicum of understanding regarding our position on this important issue, which goes to the heart of what we are as a country. We all made compromises in 1998, including the release of 54 killers in this jurisdiction and more than 400 in Northern Ireland. That was the deal that was done and we were clear about that commitment. However, some time between March 2003 and May 2004 the question of the release of the McCabe killers was conceded. My sincere view is that we should never have conceded on this issue.

What would the IRA and Sinn Féin have done if this concession had not been given? Would they have said it was the end of the process and that they would wait until the killers were released? If we had stood firm, we would have overcome. Unfortunately, a gun was put to the Taoiseach's head when the IRA and Sinn Fein demanded this concession. Most decent Irish people abhor the notion that these people should be let out of prison before they have served their term. Doing so serves to legitimise in some way the appalling act they carried out. The Irish people are divided on that matter, which the Taoiseach knows as well as I do.

I welcome the clarification on the issue of criminality by both Government parties last week. We must resolve this issue. In this State, Sinn Féin has been allowed to get away with murder, literally. In many constituencies it runs roughshod over disadvantaged communities. We must take a firm stance and make it clear that the end of criminality means once and for all an end to the kind of policing that organisation wants of some communities and an end to the torture and humiliation of people. We must fight for that and I wish the Taoiseach success in this matter.