Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I ask the Leader to encourage the Minister for Foreign Affairs to come before the House and give an update on dissident activity in the Six Counties and in the entire Ulster region. I must commend those who found the 600 lb bomb and those who reacted to the pipe bombs in Donegal town recently. However, I ask that the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Defence be brought before the House to give us an assessment of the present position and to ask the Minister for Defence specifically to bring the bomb disposal unit back to Finner Camp because when the activity took place in Donegal town it took four hours for the unit to arrive from Athlone. We are facing a situation where even the mayor of Donegal has received death threats, as has his wife and his young baby. It is important that if these threats are serious - we must take them seriously - there is the power to react to them.

I also want an opportunity for us in this House to condemn again the move back towards military activity by whoever and we must use every opportunity to advocate a peaceful process of moving forward. In that context, I would outline that these are the years where the Council of Europe is looking at "The image of the Other", and I wrote a report on how to teach history in areas of recent conflict. I would ask that we meet with the Minister for culture to outline how we can encourage the generations coming through to be tolerant of the other because the reason the mayor in Donegal received a death threat is that he suggested a memorial to the Mountbatten murders, a significant anniversary of which is being commemorated this year. It is very important for us to be able to embrace difference if we want a 32-county Ireland of mutual understanding and respect or even a peaceful island where we co-exist as we do as present.