Paul Bradford (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. It is also welcome that Fianna Fáil supports the Government in the extension of these provisions. In recent years we have had an annual debate in this House on the need to retain these measures in the interests of the State. The primary duty of the Government and, in particular, the Minister for Justice and Equality, is the preservation of security and law and order on the island. These provisions form part of that agenda.

As stated by the Minister of State - I am sure Members of all parties will agree - we all hope the day will come when an extension of the order will not be necessary. However, that time has not yet come. I take on board Senator Thomas Byrne's comments on Sinn Féin. There is a need for a broader debate on the requirement for support from all political parties on the issues of peace, progress, security, law and order. It would be great if the Sinn Féin Party could support the motion, as it would send the strong signal that Ireland was truly united, not in the sense of counties, borders, colours or flags but against violence and in support of the need for dialogue and political progress.

It was worrying when the Minister outlined the thinking behind the need for reinstatement of the order and when he gave details of the facts and figures about the number of possible threats. When I say they have not gone away I am not making a cheap political point. People who sadly and wrongly and sorrily believe that there is a role on this island for violence and threats have not yet realised that there is no future in that sort of ideology. A carrot and stick approach is needed. We need to be strong on security and my party has always been strong in that regard. I welcome the support from most of the Opposition. There needs to be a strong political message going out that this Government and the Oireachtas will take and enact whatever measures are necessary to provide for security and for law and order. At another time we need to debate at greater length and with greater substance and depth the remaining political issues and blockages which have allowed certain tiny minorities of people to believe that there is still a way forward through violence. One of those figureheads of that sort of physical force republicanism, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, died a fortnight ago. One would hope that everybody could now move on to the new plane of thinking of peace and progress.

It is quite a long time since we had a debate in this House on Northern Ireland and the politics of the island. We are hearing from some of our political colleagues across the spectrum in Northern Ireland that while we look up towards the Border and see peace where previously there was difficulty and we see political co-operation where previously there was turmoil and we think that all the problems have gone away, we must recognise that they have not. We have perhaps to be in the reaching-out mode for a little further. That comes second after the first strong message which this order sends out, that while we would wish we did not have to reinstate it, we will, for as long as is necessary, put in place whatever measures are needed to provide for the security of our citizens and our State. We want to give the Garda Síochána and our armed forces all the support they require. I fully welcome the Minister's proposals but another day we need to talk again about broadening the spectrum within which every person on this island will feel comfortable so that we finally and absolutely can put behind us the use of violence as a way forward.

We all get very excited about what sort of commemorations should be held in 2016 for the centenary of the 1916 Rising. One of the greatest monuments of all would be if we arrived at a situation where without worries about borders, counties, unity or whatever, that violence would no longer be a mechanism for political progress on this island.