Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

Like the Taoiseach, I pay a tribute to the work of Senators Mansergh and Maurice Hayes over the ten to 15 year period that has brought us to where we are today. It was significant that the Taoiseach reminded the House that the last Irish parliamentarian murdered by the IRA was a Member of the Seanad, Senator Billy Fox of my party. He was killed for no other reason than being a Protestant who lived along the Border. In reminding the House of this awful event the Taoiseach has put all of the hurt and suffering of the past 35 or 40 years in context.

I welcome the Taoiseach. It is fair to say the last time he visited the House there was a significant difference between the Government and my party on issues regarding Detective Garda Jerry McCabe. I welcome the Government's change of policy to adopt the position we argued for in our very substantive motion of April 2004. I do not mention this issue to be churlish, only to say there is an important political point to be made. The period between January and July of 2005, when the IRA needed to recognise that the way forward was to make the act of decommissioning a reality, was important because the IRA was not pampered or given additional promises. It was told it must face decommissioning, which it did.

We should now examine the new concessions sought by the DUP. The day after the decommissioning event some weeks ago, a document issued by the DUP outlined a range of additional new concessions to which I would encourage the Irish and British Governments not to concede.