Maurice Hayes (Independent)

I agree with Senator Tuffy that the issue is a very serious one and I am glad the Minister has taken it seriously. I am thinking about his comment that eminent jurists elsewhere have expressed a view on the matter. They should try living in a terror-stricken area for a while and they would see it differently. The nature of terrorism is that it terrorises people. One saw it occurring in some recent events. I have seen such cases. One of the reasons the Diplock courts were introduced in the North was because of attacks on jurors and not only directly on jurors but through their families and extended families. It is almost axiomatic that it becomes extremely difficult to think in terms of a jury trial for terrorist offences, unless it concerns an external terrorist posing a threat to some other state, with few resources or friends in this State. By and large, however, the connotation of terrorism changes the geometry of the situation in which it is being considered.