Michael Brennan (Progressive Democrats)

I am grateful for the opportunity to support the motion. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, on his address to the House today. The constitutional parties in this House have gone the extra mile in trying to implement the Good Friday Agreement. There have been many references to recent events by which we have been fooled but those events have reinforced the reality of what we are dealing with. As the saying goes, "Once bitten, twice shy".

The actions of IRA-Sinn Féin must signal and demonstrate the end of criminal activity, North and South, before progress is possible. The President's recent apology to the Unionists was welcomed. Is it not now time for IRA-Sinn Féin to apologise for the atrocity in Adare? A positive outcome of recent events is that the killers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe will not be released. I wish the Government and the Minister of State every success in implementing the Good Friday Agreement.