There are more people besides the thugs, and the bandits, and the bank robbers detained by the Minister. Notwithstanding the fact that the Bill has been justified in the main by the Minister by the illustration of bank robbers and bandits, I am going to put a question again, and that question is: why does he detain men like Eamon de Valera and Austin Stack, when he releases other men just as innocent or just as guilty as those men? If there is justification for detaining them over an ensuing seven days, and over the twelve months for which this Bill is intended to apply, will he give us any reason why they should not be detained interminably? And will he say that he has not in his possession evidence on which either of those men could be convicted of an offence?
He will say, as he has said in other language, that it is not politic to charge these men before a court. I agree, but it is more impolitic to detain them without a charge, and it is obvious, in such cases, that they are being detained because they are believed to be powerful political opponents of the Government. The Minister's case is that they are dangerous inasmuch as they are likely to foment opposition, even violent opposition, against the Government of the Saorstát. Have you, I ask, not powers under the law to deal with any subsequent offences, and will they be less liable in twelve months' time, after being detained for twelve months, or will they be less liable in three months time, after being detained for three months, to rouse enmity against the Saorstát? Is it not rather a fact that, with every day's detention, you are embittering the feelings of those who are against the Saorstát, and that you are weakening in fact respect for the law by detaining men who are detained because they are political opponents. It is clear they are not detained because they are violators of the law; it is clear they are not detained because there is not sufficient evidence available to bring them before a court. They are clearly being detained because they are opponents of the established form of Government, and they have been detained for some months, during which period they have not been able to take part in operations intended to overthrow the established form of Government. Therefore, it cannot be said that they are being detained because of any act, any specific act, differing in degree or in intensity to similar acts committed by thousands of men who have been released. If this motion is not passed, the effect will be that the Bill cannot be legally operative for seven days, and that then all the powers that are required to preserve the peace and the public safety, to protect person and property, which the Minister believes are necessary as embodied will be available, but they will deal with future offences. The only purpose of this motion is to ensure that people will be detained for offences or a suspicion of having been guilty of offences, or on a suspicion that they may in future be guilty of offences, but not for offences against the law or against the public safety which may be committed after the Bill becomes operative.
I believe it would be beneficial for the State that this Bill should not be operative for seven days, and that those who have been detained and who will not be charged, should be released, and that the risk of releasing thugs, bandits, and bank robbers, ought to be taken, and that those who are not either thugs, bandits, or bank robbers should have an opportunity to join in enforcing that respect for the law, and that prevention of crime which the Minister so sincerely and earnestly desires to become the common practice and the ideal of the people. I hope the Dáil will not pass this motion, and that they will express themselves in this way as being desirous that the political prisoners now under arrest be released forthwith.