Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, to the House and wish him well in his new responsibilities since the change of Administration. He has distinguished himself to date and I have no doubt will continue to do so.

This legislation has been before the House for the past seven or eight years. To some extent, it is a pity it is deemed necessary. I accept that the justifiable outrage in regard to the terrible atrocity that was Omagh, where so many innocent people, children and adults, were savagely put to death, brought about the amendments to the Offences against the State Act. The legislation raises issues which those involved in the criminal justice system are concerned to safeguard against to ensure there are no miscarriages of justice. It is, therefore, appropriate that it be brought before the House on an annual basis.

As I have said in the past, it is my wish that we will reach a stage, in the not too distant future, when the Minister will be able to come to the House and say that in the opinion of the Government and the security authorities there is no longer a need to extend the provisions of the Act. Of course, it is not just the dissident republican groups, even though the emphasis is on them. They were involved in the terrible atrocity that was Omagh but there is also the threat, which is somewhat new, from international terrorism. Some appalling atrocities have been committed in this decade which have made us all aware of the need to ensure the security forces and the legislative framework are in place to contest and meet the challenge in the interests of our people.

While reference has not been made to it, I understand that some time ago there were a number of people in this State who were involved in the al-Qaeda terrorist group. If the Minister of State is of a mind — he has stated he is — that there is a need to continue in force the provisions of the Offences against the State Act I am happy to support that.

With regard to the comment from Senator Regan, I would have thought I made myself clear on the Order of Business this morning. Omagh is an atrocity that all right-thinking people would condemn, so also are the Dublin-Monaghan bombings and many other atrocities during the Troubles. The Dublin-Monaghan bombings, which involved the single biggest loss of life during that period, is a matter that has engaged me over many years. An Oireachtas joint committee comprising Members from all parties examined the inquiries by the independent Mr. Justice Barron and heard various witnesses who came before it in regard to those atrocities. Certain recommendations were made which have not been acted upon. That does not reflect well on the Houses and that is the reason I called this morning for action to be taken.

There was no doubt in the minds of any of the members of the committee — people may have had different views at the outset of those inquiries — and there was common acceptance that collusion took place at a fairly widespread level in regard to many of the atrocities that occurred in Northern Ireland and in the Republic at that time and that there was definitely strong collusion involved in the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. The view was that this went beyond the security forces and that it had to involve the Northern Ireland Office, which would have been working under the direct supervision and control of the security committee in Westminster. There are people at senior level in the then Administration who were at least aware of what was going on and took no action to prevent it. That is probably putting the most benign complexion on it. It is particularly insidious when the State involves itself in atrocities of this nature.

I would say to Senator Regan that his dismissive comment that this happened so many years ago as if it should be forgotten does a disservice to the families of those victims who have tried over the last——