Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Senators Ahearn, Dolan and Seery Kearney. I do not believe in being unfair to people but I think what has happened in this situation is that this legacy has shone a light on the cash collecting that Sinn Féin has been engaged in for the past two decades.

I remember seeing a video in a documentary by Ann McCabe, husband of the late Jerry McCabe, who was murdered by the IRA, where she secretly filmed a Sinn Féin fundraiser in New York where Gerry Adams in his opening remarks said he thanked the participants and that they had raised a quarter of a million dollars. That is at one fundraising dinner.

I have two simple requests for Sinn Féin. First, hand back this €4 million legacy because it is the right, decent and proper thing to do. Second, introduce legislation in Northern Ireland that reflects the legislation that exists in this country in terms of SIPO. Two things: hand back the money and bring in the same laws in the North that exist in the South. It is simple and it would start the journey to transparency, which is what we want in this country.