Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sure many Members will share my sentiments if they saw last night's BBC Northern Ireland's "Spotlight" programme that dealt with the intimidation of Kevin Lunney, a director of Quinn Industrial Holdings. It was very sad. He was abducted, tortured and assaulted. There has been ongoing intimidation of all the directors of Quinn Industrial Holdings. The rule of law must be upheld in that region. I do not like to talk about the Garda or its operations. I am sure many things have been done behind the scenes and under the radar but there is a feeling that perhaps the Garda and the PSNI were not out quickly enough to deal with the threats of intimidation against these directors. Additional gardaí have been deployed and there is a fully armed service unit in the area. I very much welcome that but I hope the Garda and the PSNI have a cross-Border initiative to tackle these serious forms of intimidation. Our thoughts are with Kevin Lunney and all the Quinn directors and their families. Nobody should have to experience such intimidation as they try to do what is right for their community and area in terms of protecting jobs. As a State, we must stand up to this form of intimidation and the rule of law must be upheld.