I thank Deputy Kenny for the way he has framed this and the opportunity he has given me to deal with this matter.
I made clear in a Dáil statement of 5 November last, and also in a more extensive statement that I distributed the same day on this issue, that my special adviser at the time, Dr. Mansergh, did have contact with the 32 County Sovereignty Movement in 1998 some weeks before the Omagh atrocity with a view to persuading the Real IRA to cease their activities after the overwhelming ratification of the Good Friday Agreement by the people of Ireland. I also said that following the Omagh atrocity, Fr. Alex Reid was in discussions with that organisation with a view to bringing about the ceasefire on its part, which was eventually announced in early September 1998. I said that in this period Fr. Reid maintained contact with Dr. Mansergh on the issue.
Following the announcement of the ceasefire in September 1998, the Government strongly communicated the message that the Real IRA should not only maintain its ceasefire but should disband and cease to exist by the end of the year. That message would also have been communicated and reinforced directly by Dr. Mansergh in a follow-up meeting during Christmas week in 1998 at the request of the movement in response to his earlier contact at a time when the Real IRA ceasefire had been in existence for three months. Regrettably, the Real IRA did not heed this message and subsequently resumed its activities. It should also be made clear, as Deputy Kenny said, that everything Dr. Mansergh and Fr. Reid did during this period was designed to bring about a Real IRA ceasefire and a definitive end to its activities.
I accept Deputy Kenny's comment that the position is not clear from the record. I did not say that Dr. Mansergh met Mr. McKevitt during Christmas 1998. Deputy Kenny has obviously read the record. I am sure he will accept that I was talking at that stage about a deal that was meant to have been done prior to the ceasefire in which Dr. Mansergh and Fr. Reid were involved. I did mention the other events, but I accept that I did not go into all of the activities.
I want to repeat what I said in the Dáil last November. I said no deal was done by the Government either directly or indirectly with the Real IRA in return for a ceasefire or in the context of seeking its disbandment at the end of 1998. At all times it would have been made clear, as it was in my public statement in response to the ceasefire, that the law would take its course regarding the atrocities for which the Real IRA was responsible, and the sustained and successful action of the authorities here against the Real IRA provides ample evidence of that. I confirm that while I was talking at that time last year about what happened in the events leading up to the ceasefire in September 1998, I referred to some of the activities, but I accept that I did not refer to this one.
Dr. Mansergh put a report of that meeting into the records of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Department of the Taoiseach. In no way was Dr. Mansergh acting in a secret way. I accept it would have been better if I had mentioned that at the time, but I do so now. I reiterate that it was done with my imprimatur and the reason it was done during Christmas week was that at that stage the organisation had been on ceasefire for three months. We felt it was worth trying to convince it not only to stay on ceasefire, which was not an issue at that time, but to disband.