I am grateful for the opportunity to express my disgust at the temporary release from Castlerea Prison in recent months of each of the four of the murderers of detective garda Jerry McCabe. I cannot understand the reasoning which led to these temporary releases. They are described by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform as being on compassionate grounds. Each of them appears to be based on the alleged illness of a family member. To say the least of it, the reasons for their release are very dubious and almost certainly would not be adequate if these people were not members of the IRA and did not have the other part of the IRA, Sinn Féin, lobbying for them. The lobbying is done for them by other convicted terrorist criminals.
It was made abundantly clear prior to, and at the signing of, the Good Friday Agreement that the benefits of that Agreement would not extend to these four people. Notwithstanding that, their releases are described in some quarters as "confidence building measures". I would have thought we need to build confidence in the legal system, particularly the criminal justice system, and not confidence among the members of an organisation which has spent several decades murdering, maiming and robbing people on this island.
The Minister of State acknowledged in the House yesterday that discussions had taken place with Sinn Féin about these prisoners and how they would be treated. I doubt if the Department or the Government would enter into discussions with any other political party a member of whom had been convicted of killing a garda on duty. Why do these people get special treatment? Would a freelance, unattached murderer of a garda get this treatment? The answer is unquestionably no.
If compassion is to be shown it might first be shown to those who themselves demonstrated some compassion. What compassion did these thugs and their associates show to Jerry McCabe and Ben O'Sullivan on that awful morning in Adare? Why should these people be shown constant favouritism?
The Progressive Democrats is deeply disturbed by the action of the Minister in releasing these people temporarily. It looks to us as if this is simply the gradual build-up to their eventual premature total release. If the Minister requires, through legislation or by way of motion, the agreement of this House for further favourable treatment for these people and their associates, support for such a measure will not be forthcoming from the Progressive Democrats.
These four people have been convicted of extremely serious crimes and sentenced to terms of imprisonment of up to 14 years. Why are they not in Portlaoise Prison? This is the appropriate place for people convicted of this type of offence and nowhere else is appropriate. Is it at the request of other convicted criminals in Sinn Féin that they are now enjoying themselves in Castlerea Prison in an individual bungalow of their own, with telephones paid for by the taxpayer and the IRA sending down the town for Chinese or other take-aways whenever the normal diet is not to their liking? Why are they allowed the privacy of living together in one house which was described in newspapers as a luxury bungalow with the freedom to talk, by telephone at least, to anyone they want, anywhere they like and at any time? Are they using this access to the outside to plan further crimes and to give instructions to their less experienced associates in Sinn Féin and the IRA as to how certain serious crimes might best be carried out?
When moderate democrats who seek to abide by and uphold the rule of law come a bad second in Government esteem to these kind of people, it is surely time to ask ourselves some fundamental questions about how we order our affairs. When the lives of our policemen, and the welfare of their widows, come second to the creature comforts of these sort of people, we may find ourselves quickly in a position that the thin blue line disappears and our society and its institutions are put at grave risk.
