Statements on Northern Ireland - 6th October 2005

Statements on Northern Ireland – 6th October 2005

Mr. Norris: I welcome the Taoiseach to the
House. It is always good to hear his balanced
reports on progress. There has been progress and
quite a large proportion is due to the Taoiseach’s
dogged determination to pursue the course of
peace in Northern Ireland in very difficult days.
We have had decommissioning, which was a
major and spectacular event. I was out of the
country at the time but the story was all over the
international media. It puts us in a position where
we can hold our heads up with a certain amount
of respect. We had to wait a long time for it but
at least it was done without a major IRA split,
which is very significant and important.
It is tragic that each generation seems to have
to learn that the use of force is futile. Even when
I was a child in school, we learned that the application
of force creates an equal and opposite
force. Both sides eventually realised that they
could not win militarily. I am glad that they did
but at such a cost. This lesson has not yet been
fully learned by the governments on the neighbouring
island and in the United States of America
with their adventure in Iraq. I wish to God
that they would learn it soon.
I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach is considering
the questions of representation and
speaking rights. He has excluded the Dail, which
only leaves this House, so I presume there will be
some move here. We have an honourable tradition
in this regard in the House, exemplified at
present by Senator Maurice Hayes. I also pay
tribute to other people who have not been mentioned.
One of them is Seamus Mallon, with
whom I disagreed on so many of what were called
“moral issues”. However, he is a man of the
utmost integrity, as was the late Gerry Fitt.
There has been movement on the Unionist
side. I was very pleased to see the Reverend Ian
Paisley going into a Roman Catholic school,
meeting with the children and condemning the
barbarous notion of the desecration of graves. As
a member of the Church of Ireland, I absolutely
condemn this kind of behaviour. It is barbarism
of the worst sort. Decent people, whatever their
disagreements, respect the tribal dead of each
side.
We all know there are still problems with Sinn
Fein and the IRA. It is not just the news coming
from Manchester; it is much closer to home.
There are lists of pubs around Dublin that everybody
believes have been secured with hot money
from the IRA. When I watched “Questions and
Answers” approximately six weeks ago, I saw a
Sinn Fein representative from the other House.
Perhaps I should not name him but I am sure the
Taoiseach knows who it is. His initials are “M.
F.”. He was asked about fund raising and the way
Sinn Fein bankrolled all its elections. An individual
mentioned bank raids and the Sinn Fein representative
calmly replied that this was what he
termed “armed fund raising”. This suggests that
Sinn Fein is a party that is only mildly tainted
by constitutionality.