Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

I apologise for not being present for the Taoiseach's contribution. I would have liked to have heard him but I was delayed at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Article 35.4.1° of the Constitution.

I rarely speak on Northern Ireland issues in the House but I have recently felt rather emotional about them. What has probably energised me is the unfair criticism on the part of Fianna Fáil to the effect that Fine Gael has deviated from what has always been classified as bipartisanship on Northern Ireland issues. Senator Mansergh did so in last Saturday's The Irish Times and Deputy Noel Dempsey did so today, as did the Taoiseach. I have mentioned the Jerry McCabe issue previously and it has been mentioned many times in this House. Senator Mansergh referred to it in The Irish Times last Saturday. I make no apologies for making a stand on it because I feel very strongly about it.

One may ask why I make no apologies. I have never spoken in this or the other House about an experience I had in west Limerick on 31 March 1990, 14 years ago, when I was a newly elected Deputy. In that year, the IRA ran a lawless campaign in which it robbed post offices and set fire to cars. I ask Members to visualise themselves in the circumstances in which I found myself. I was getting out of my car to go to a political function when a guy wearing a balaclava came alongside me and pointed his pistol or gun at me. I believed at first that it was an April fool's joke on the basis that 1 April was the next day, but I realised how serious the matter was when two other guys came out of the shadows, one of whom had a petrol container. I visualised straight away that my car would get torched like other cars had been torched, not realising what the three men would use the car for. I was told to open the boot and wondered if I would be put into it. I recall getting into the back of a car and the guy at the back pushing me down on the floor, taking off my glasses and putting a balaclava on me back to front so I could see nothing. They were talking on the basis of "No. 1", "No. 2" and "No. 3" and one recognised me as a local Deputy.

I was thinking of Bill Fox who had been murdered near the North of Ireland and did not know what would happen to me. I recall saying an act of contrition in the car because I was absolutely petrified and the men were accusing me and all politicians of being collaborators. I was then dropped off at the side of the road and they took off and warned me not to move. I was petrified over what would happen if I did move.

Eventually, I walked to Rathkeale, which was a mile away and where I saw the fire station lit up and wondered what was happening. What had happened was that my abductors had set fire to the shop of a person who had a late-night business in the town. They set fire to it for their own ulterior motives. I will not expand on that because the shop-owner has gone out of business since the event. He was entirely traumatised afterwards because the men were never tracked down. On the Sunday evening after my abduction, I saw my car on a transporter being brought to Dublin for forensic analysis.

I have a clipping from the Limerick Leader issued at the time of the incident. It claims that on the day following the event, one of those responsible phoned and said that Deputy Finucane would confirm he had not been harmed. This was true but the men frightened the life out of me and my family.

Events such as that described are bound to influence one's thinking. I am thankful that I was spared. I have put the event to the back of my mind and have not referred to it in either House in 14 years. However, I refer to it now in the context of what happened to Jerry McCabe — God be good to him — and to Ben O'Sullivan in Adare in 1996. I am thankful that Ben O'Sullivan recovered. Such events are bound to colour one's assessment and that is why I resent Fine Gael being criticised for expressing its view. I feel perfectly entitled to express my view because I feel very strongly about the issue.

It is correct for Mrs. McCabe to feel very upset on the basis that she was promised that the killers of her husband would not be released. One may argue that they can be exonerated and that their release is justifiable and sustainable as part of the peace process. Is this argument valid?

The SDLP has recently criticised the Good Friday Agreement because the impact of the text on it and the Unionists has been changed. The people who held faith with the peace process through difficult phases have been sidelined. Gerry Adams was on "The Late Late Show" last Friday spinning and criticising Fine Gael because its members dared to express their views on the release of the killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe, which reflected the thinking of approximately 80% of the population.

The leader of our party expressed himself extremely well in the debate in the other House today when he outlined Fine Gael's role in the peace process over the years. We will not accept lecturing on this issue. We have always been fair-minded on this and supported the Taoiseach in his intense efforts to resolve this problem. We did not play the blame game although we could if we so wish wonder about some of the changes and utterances in the past week and if there is confusion about the Good Friday Agreement. We will not do that because it is not constructive. Let us point a way forward for the future.

Sinn Féin members on television and radio are masterful at spin but I criticise television and radio journalists for at times failing to ask hard questions. Gerry Adams got a deafening round of applause last Friday night on "The Late Late Show". Pat Kenny did not ask him any difficult questions during that debate and those questions should be asked.

Sinn Féin appeals to a young electorate. We grew up at a time when Che Guevara was regarded as a hero in South America and was probably respected in this country because he was then a revolutionary. Our educated young people are giving the same respect to this party because they do not remember past incidents or what happened during the Troubles. They are influenced by the media and the spinning. Gerry Adams has no right to lecture Enda Kenny.