Over the past two months we have seen the extent to which the republican movement has corrupted the democratic process in this country. We have seen a sovereign Government held to ransom by an illegal terrorist organisation. In addition, we have seen the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform capitulate to its demands for the early release of the murderers of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe in return for the fulfilment of IRA commitments under the Good Friday Agreement.

We have also seen a procession of Fianna Fáil Ministers, including the Minister for Foreign Affairs, highlighting their willingness to share Government with Sinn Féin if the opportunity arises. None of these Ministers has withdrawn these statements following the Northern Ireland bank raid, which was clearly executed by the IRA.

The Taoiseach has rightly demanded clarity from the republican movement and there must be no room for interpretation of the required commitment to end all criminal activity. It has been truly nauseating to witness their twisted definitions of what constitutes a criminal act, which seem to be dependent on whether or not one of their members was involved.

In light of the claims made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs that it is no longer business as usual, will the Taoiseach tell the House what has actually changed in terms of the negotiation strategy with Sinn Féin? How will the Taoiseach and his Government ensure that future negotiations will not be deliberately undermined, as they were when we were within ten hours of having the matter concluded, while a major bank raid was being planned?

In light of the Taoiseach's own, proper statement about absolute clarify, will he give absolute clarity to this House that the matter of the early release of the murderers of Jerry McCabe is not on the agenda and will not be until the persons responsible have served their full time as handed down by the court?

Deputy Kenny has asked me a number of questions to which there are a number of aspects. Obviously, since we debated these matters on the eve of the Christmas recess, events have taken a bad turn. The fall-out from the Northern Bank raid is that trust and confidence in the process are now at a very low level. The sooner we can deal with these issues straight up with the republican movement, the better. In my meetings yesterday, I outlined that in detail. I avoided doing so over the past few weeks as I wanted to do it in person, which I thought was the right and proper way, since I have been involved in the peace process for many years. The key and right question Deputy Kenny asked is how can we be sure. I understood that in working for a comprehensive agreement it was on the basis of trust and confidence and matters being clear.

Two key issues are outstanding and it will be impossible for us to move forward in any agreement until we get certainty on those two issues. One of the issues, the decommissioning of arms in order to take the gun out of politics, has been outstanding for a long time. The basis of discussions on that has been well documented. The second issue is more complicated and more urgent and involves ending criminality. For many months I, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform have been working to find a basis for ending criminality. That is a key issue. There is no possibility of building confidence with the parties unless that issue is resolved. I have talked to all the parties, the party leaders and others in Northern Ireland. That issue must be dealt with before we can even start, and it will probably be difficult to do it anyway with the election only a few months off. We are totally committed to implementing the Good Friday Agreement because it is what the people on this island, North and South, voted for in such huge numbers.

In reply to Deputy Kenny's other question, all aspects of the comprehensive deal are off the table because there is no comprehensive agreement. Each time we tried to move, from April 2003, October 2003, November or December 2004, while the comprehensive agreement was still being built upon, these elements still remained in play. That ended in the aftermath of 8 December and these issues are no longer on the table.

I am conscious that we have a solemn obligation to the Irish people. The Government is determined to see the Good Friday Agreement implemented in full and will do everything it can to make that happen. It is now more difficult. I have asked Sinn Féin to reflect on how it can genuinely bring this process forward and, following such reflection, to come back on the two issues I mentioned. This must include a definitive and demonstrable end to all forms of criminal activity. We will wait to see what happens. I will meet Prime Minister Blair next week and prior to that I will meet the International Monitoring Commission. I hope it will also be possible for me to meet Mr. Hugh Orde and our own Garda Commissioner.

I thank the Taoiseach for his clarification that the matter of an early release for the McCabe killers is now off the table. I hope it will not reappear in any circumstances until those persons have served their time. The Taoiseach knows my view on this. Both he and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform were prepared to do a deal in this matter last year, despite a very clear statement made to the Dáil by the previous Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Taoiseach also knows my view and my party's view regarding the ending of criminality by all persons and all parties in all places on this island. The Taoiseach understands my view on bipartisanship. We have always and will always support the Government's efforts to complete the Good Friday Agreement and rid this country of terrorism and criminal activity.

The Government continued on a path of appeasement for seven years. I regarded the actions of the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, who now takes a very strong Fine Gael line, as the actions of people who had become prisoners of the mind set of the negotiation strategy of the IRA and Sinn Féin. In that context I have two further questions. First, does the Taoiseach back up the assertion, made quite clearly and publicly by the Tánaiste, that a Member of this House, Deputy Ferris, is a member of the army council of the Provisional IRA? Second, does the Taoiseach have at his disposal, based on information from intelligence sources in the Garda and in the Army, knowledge of the whereabouts of illegal arms dumps currently held in the Republic? Will the Taoiseach comment on those two points?

I do not know the make-up of the present army council. I had some heated exchanges about that yesterday. I will not go over that ground again. I do not know the whereabouts of any arms dumps. The position of the Garda is that we will continue to seek out arms anywhere. No easy line will be taken on that.

Regarding the other issues, I appreciate Deputy Kenny's bipartisan position of support. There have been comments in recent days regarding appeasement and the failure of the system. In dealing with these issues one must have a steady nerve. In Northern Ireland today almost nobody is killed, unlike what happened over the previous 30 years. There are not too many incidents. There is much political engagement and a significant amount of investment. Tourism is quite healthy. Northern Ireland has a different image on this island and abroad in the greater world. There has been much progress and development.

However, there seems to be a sinister view that one can, on the one hand, continue the development of democratic politics of a kind and, on the other, that it is all right to engage in criminality. There was a view that for some time this was tolerated in order to try to move the process forward. However, ten years on, we cannot continue to do that. What offended me, and the reason I have taken a tough line on this, was the idea that a comprehensive agreement could be negotiated on the basis of trust and confidence while this kind of criminality went on. It is not a question of the size of the bank raid, and it was a big bank raid. I did not show anger regarding earlier events, for example, the raid on the Makro store in Dunmurry last Easter during which £1 million worth of goods was taken and staff were tied up by armed men. The International Monitoring Commission blamed the Provisional IRA for that. We in this House took that coolly enough. In October £2 million worth of cigarettes were stolen from the Gallagher warehouse in north Belfast when a gang held up employees. The PSNI stated the Provisional IRA was responsible for that. The Provisional IRA is also believed to be responsible for the abduction and robbery at a Strabane bank branch on 26 September.

What I find really offensive, and again I say it here in the House with members of Sinn Féin present because I did not go around speaking with a megaphone over Christmas, is that there was an ability to turn off all punishment beatings while negotiations were in progress but as soon as the negotiations failed there was a string of them — they are again a nightly occurrence. I will give Sinn Féin full marks for discipline, but not for anything else.