Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Tá an-áthas orm deis a bheith agam an scéal mar a sheasann sé le Sinn Féin a chur in iúl mar is ceart, seachas an leagan éagórach a thug an cainteoir a chuaigh romham. I welcome the Minister of State and I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. I also welcome the opportunity to correct the misrepresentation of Sinn Féin's opposition to this motion. Our opposition is based on the human rights issues that revolve around this legislation.

I find it farcical that a Senator representing Fianna Fáil - the party that imposed on the State the greatest act of economic treason it has ever seen - has tried to castigate Sinn Féin which has played such a central role in the peace process and continued to bed down the process in the North in the past 15 years. An issue articulated by President Obama in recent days arises in this context. The Good Friday Agreement has been in place for 15 years, but some very important sections of it have not been put in place. Serious issues relating to peace in the North have to be dealt with. Of course, we all condemn acts of dissident activity and violence outside the political sphere.

The motion before the House, like the next one we will deal with, involves the apparently perpetual renewal of sections of legislation which breach a substantial human right - the right to a trial by a jury of one's peers. I do not know why Senator Thomas Byrne has an issue with what we are saying in this regard. The right to a fair trial is guaranteed under Article 38 of the Constitution and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The fundamental UN human rights instruments, to which the State has signed up, make it clear that fundamental rights protections may be derogated from in times of emergency only. How can that possibly be justified at this time? Every year we have the same debate. The report presented to us - a mere seven pages, including two appendices - is entirely inadequate as a form of scrutiny of the legislation. We have heard no real rationale for the maintenance of the legislation, other than the reference to the statistics contained in the report which are not supportive of the Government's agenda.

The report states the figures set out for the use of the various sections of the Act support the continuing need for these legislative provisions. This is plainly not the case. The use of these provisions - in fact, of nearly every section - has been on a downward trajectory in recent years. Some 443 people have been arrested, but just nine convictions have been secured as a result. To my mind, this raises questions about what people are being arrested for. If there is little concrete evidence, is it simply a case of gathering intelligence? Numerous sections were not utilised once, with some not having been used since 2003. There is less reason than ever for these provisions. There was a considerable reduction in paramilitary activity throughout Ireland last year. Ireland is safer now than it has been for quite some time. The success of the G8 summit has proved this.

The Offences against the State Act was introduced during the Second World War and has been amended numerous times since. Each amendment or enactment was introduced under the guise of an emergency. Whether it was justified then is the subject for another debate. Does the Government really believe we are living through an emergency? Does it think we are in a state of perpetual emergency? It is a damning indictment of a state that it believes the rule of law is in so feeble a condition that there is a need for permanent emergency legislation. I would like to know whether the Minister for Justice and Equality can envisage a time when the legislation will not be renewed. Do the Minister and his Government colleagues honestly have a desire to see this happen? I believe the Minister, like his predecessors, has become very attached to the idea of such draconian measures.

Sinn Féin has consistently called on the Government to repeal the Offences against the State Act in its entirety. This is an issue of human rights and civil liberties. Senator Ivana Bacik has often contributed to public discussion of the issue of civil liberties and I commend her for doing so. I agree with much of what she has said during such debates. However, she is seeking to vote for the third time for the renewal of non-jury trials, even though the evidence in support of this is growing scarcer by the year. There is enormous potential for miscarriages of justice when the usual safeguards are applied poorly, compromised or dropped entirely. The House will be aware of cases such as that of Dean Ryan, Meleady and Grogan, the DPP v. Pringle and, famously, the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four. The onus remains on the Minister and the Government to live up to their obligations under the Good Friday Agreement to deliver security normalisation. The Offences against the State Act should be scrapped as part of this process. The Government has made no move in this regard since the publication of the Hederman report. Instead, it has voted to renew this draconian legislation three times.

Sinn Féin's view is that the powers and provisions on the criminal law books are more than sufficient for the purposes suggested by the Government. I urge the House to vote against the renewal motion and instead call on the Government to properly resource the agencies involved in the fight against serious crime. Táimid ag cur i gcoinne na reachtaíochta seo ar an mbunús sin, a bhaineann le cearta sibhialta agus le cearta daonna. Tá Sinn Féin go hiomlán meáite ar an bpróiseas polaitiúil. Tá sé á bhrú chun cinn againn. Is cosúil go bhfuil na polaiteoirí sna Sé Chontae - DUP, Sinn Féin agus gach páirtí eile - bogtha ar aghaidh, ach is léir freisin go bhfuil deacracht fós ag daoine ar an taobh seo den Teorainn bogadh ar aghaidh chomh maith céanna. B'fhéidir go n-oireann sé sin an agenda polaitiúil atá acu féin.