Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the debate and compliment the Leader on tabling the motion. I welcome the contribution of the Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan, who has left. In fairness, he has significantly strengthened the commitment from the Government's side on this topic.

Unfortunately, a light touch has been applied in recent years and this has perhaps created the void. The Taoiseach and the Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, might say we are 17 years into the peace process and it is really time for the politicians in the North to be taking responsibility and showing leadership themselves. That has not been happening, although I acknowledge that Mr. Martin McGuinness, in particular, has been a very good appointment as Deputy First Minister. From talking to MLAs on the Unionist side, I think they would also feel he is someone with whom they can do business. Of course, this whole issue leads to a lack of credibility and trust, which is very much in evidence there.

I will start where my colleague finished. Through our work in south Armagh, it was very apparent that there is a high level of criminality there.There is intimidation and a spirit of omertaand it is obvious that former IRA combatants are involved. These people can be named and have been named privately to us. It is also clear as one travels around that they are doing very well financially from their exercise. When we were there and talking to locals, what worried me is that it operated as it did in the past, namely, that the money raised was "for the cause". That begs the question - what cause are we talking about now? Is it now a political cause? Therein lies a threat that could skew our political and democratic processes here.

This organised crime must be tackled seriously. In that regard, I must say that I am not totally impressed by the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Justice Minister, David Ford MLA, hosting a conference on organised crime. A task force that is committed to dealing with it is required. More worryingly, when the Garda Commissioner signalled that the IRA is no longer in existence back in February, one wondered how out of touch she was regarding what was going on. If there is no awareness among the authorities upon which the State depends to keep law and order, there is no hope of correcting or controlling it.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade said, "it is also crucial that we complete the work started by the Stormont House Agreement on establishing institutions to deal with the legacy of the past so that justice and truth can bring what healing is possible to victims and survivors of the Troubles and their families". I will believe it when I see it. It is wishful thinking. We have tried through these Houses for many years to get the British to give some semblance of co-operation with regard to the perpetrators and information they have regarding the largest atrocity during the Troubles, the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, and in particular, the high level of collusion involving British forces and possibly British politicians in those atrocities. The former Taoiseach made strenuous efforts with his counterpart at the time, Tony Blair, and was told that MI5 would not co-operate in releasing the information. How convenient. Governments are elected to govern and, unfortunately, we have not seen any of that.

I caution the Minister whose bona fides in this area I do not doubt as I think he is highly committed to it. He comes with a lot of knowledge and expertise in the area. He talks about how an international treaty between the British and Irish Governments is required for the establishment of the independent commission for information retrieval. Is this the same British Government that a previous Irish Government entered into an international agreement with? Judge Peter Corry was appointed to look at certain murders and atrocities that happened both North and South. This was subsequently reneged upon when Judge Corry looked for a public inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane. This was done because there were very high levels of collusion involved.

Understandably but regrettably, party politics are interfering with progressing the normalisation of politics and society in the North. What Mike Nesbitt, MLA, and the UUP did in removing David Kennedy from the Executive was obviously done for his own narrow party political interest. The same happened with Sinn Féin and the SDLP. Clearly Sinn Féin is in a bind in that it is looking at politics down here and trying to co-ordinate what it does in the North in respect of whether it will be popular down here. One cannot run an administration based on that.

A number of the murders that were committed have been mentioned. I can understand that the murder of "Jock" Davison on 5 May would have resonated with a lot of republicans. He was highly regarded with the republican community. He was a man who played his part when the loyalist murder gangs were assassinating innocent Catholics in the North and gained quite a degree of respect for that. I know there are allegations about him being involved in the murder of Robert McCartney. We have a situation where we have, more or less, a total abandonment of law and order and this must change. The killing of Paul Quinn and the murder of Robert McCartney were never thoroughly investigated to bring the perpetrators to justice. Their families must get restitution by way of the truth and the prosecution of those responsible.

We need to cleanse the process of all criminality, be it the IRA or the loyalist paramilitaries who are also up to the necks in it. All of this must be cleansed. We must build trust and respect and make politics work. This effort must not just partially deal with it. It must deal with it so that we can turn over a new chapter and there can be a progression of the real needs of the people of Northern Ireland.