David Norris (Independent)

I find myself in the happy position of wanting to agree with two of my colleagues on the Fianna Fáil benches. First, I agree with Senator Ó Murchú, although normally I deprecate the idea of apologies. We have had apologies for the famine and the flood, which are completely irrelevant tripe. However, on this occasion people, some of whom are still alive, suffered a massive injustice so the apology actually has meaning. Mrs. Annie Maguire will be in the lobby of the House of Commons today when this apology is received, which is to be very much welcomed.

It is also important that we continue to monitor the situation in Northern Ireland. I listened last night to Vincent Browne's radio programme. He asked Danny Morrison a very direct, specific and clear question — if he believed that the Northern Bank raid was a crime. The answer is very instructive. He said it depended on who did it. As long as we have this kind of morality and definition of criminality, we are in very serious trouble. That appears to me not to be confined to Mr. Morrison, but to be endemic throughout Sinn Féin. It is a crime if other people did it but it is not a crime if its members did it. That is what vitiated the McCabe trial.

I also agree with Senator Hanafin. He made an extremely good point which is similar to one I wish to make. We should have a debate on the situation in the Middle East, encompassing Israel and Iraq. The real criteria is the welfare and well-being of the people in the Middle East. If that means people like me are proved to have been wrong in certain emphases, what does it matter? The main thing is the welfare of these people. The point Senator Hanafin made was underlined by one of the senior United Nations observers in Iraq at the time of the murder of Mr. de Mello, who said in an article in the International Herald Tribune that elections under hostile occupations should be forbidden since they have no other purpose than to further entrench the occupier's interests. The results are not yet in from the election.