The Taoiseach yesterday defended the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he stated the Minister acted in defence of the security of the State. He would not elaborate or give reasons for that belief, or outline the threat to the security of the State. The Taoiseach asked us to wait for the Minister's subsequent statement. The Minister entered the House to deliver a fanciful fairytale.

The Minister repeated without substantiation his claim that a named citizen, Frank Connolly, was in Colombia on a false passport. Mr. Connolly has not been charged with this offence or any other offence which I know of, let alone convicted of it. The Minister linked his allegations to the Colombia three, and he went on to claim that the purpose was to train FARC guerillas in return for large amounts of money for the IRA. He then compounded his allegations against Frank Connolly, again without a shred of evidence, by claiming he was central to this plot. I believe the plot to be a figment of the Minister's imagination.

Does the Taoiseach recall that even the corrupt judicial system in Colombia could not convict the three men of the training of FARC guerillas? Does the Taoiseach recall that the Colombian Government's case collapsed ignominiously and it had to resort to a secret appeals process, where the defendants were not even represented, to overturn a verdict reached in open court? The judicial process heaped further international discredit on the Colombian judicial system.

What exactly was the threat to the State, according to the Taoiseach? Was it the fantasy of the IRA using money from Colombia to subvert democracy, or was it the case that the Taoiseach viewed the threat from the Centre for Public Inquiry, with Frank Connolly as CEO, as greater to the political interest of the Minister, Deputy McDowell, the Progressive Democrats and the Government?

Will the Taoiseach confirm that the Minister, Deputy McDowell, cleared with the Cabinet the proposed meeting with Chuck Feeney and the documentation he showed to Mr. Feeney? Was the Cabinet shown exactly what the Minister proposed to show to Mr. Feeney? Where did the Minister get the documentation? In his address to the House yesterday the Minister said the document was in the possession of the Department of Foreign Affairs yet subsequently, under questioning from Deputies, he said he received it from the Garda Síochána, something he had earlier discounted, if I recall correctly.

What exactly is the threat to the security of the State that has led the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to take this unprecedented action, with the potentially serious consequences it must have for the individual rights of all citizens?

The Minister and I comprehensively answered nearly all of these questions yesterday. I will briefly restate a few points, in case there is any doubt about what I said yesterday. There was no question of there being any campaign by the Government against the Centre for Public Inquiry, which happens to employ the individual concerned.

This matter centres on the fraudulent use of Irish passports and the activities of persons belonging to a proscribed organisation which is bent on subverting this State. The Minister arrived at his judgment and made a decision as it was his responsibility to do. The Cabinet supports his view in the matter. I have no more to say.

The Taoiseach said just as little yesterday. Will he clarify exactly what organisation is bent on subverting the institutions of this State?

Mr. Justice Flood.

Are any of the Ministers, not to mention the Taoiseach——

The Deputy better make a few phone calls.

The House should allow Deputy Ó Caoláin to speak without interruption.

I presume the role of the Ceann Comhairle is to keep order in the Government benches just as he exercises it in respect of the Opposition.

If the Deputy had been listening I called the attention of the Members——

The Ceann Comhairle's efforts fall a long way short of what is required.

I have asked the Deputies on all sides of the House to allow the Deputy continue without interruption.

Yesterday in the Dáil the Taoiseach quite rightly questioned the whole basis of the so-called "Stormontgate" business in the North. Does he not see the parallel with this case?

The Deputy is really bumping along the bottom now.

Yesterday he said, regarding this issue, "It means we all went through a great deal of suffering for something that at the end of the day did not seem to add up on examination."

The Deputy's time is concluded.

My time is well up surely. Does the Taoiseach not see the parallels with the "Stormontgate" situation, where those in a position of influence in a state can fabricate a case against this party, Sinn Féin, and as a result bring about the collapse of public institutions? This parallels the actions of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, with the approval of the Taoiseach, in respect of the Centre for Public Inquiry and the position of Frank Connolly. If the Taoiseach fails to see the parallel he is absolutely blind to the facts.

The fact is that this is a clear, orchestrated effort directed not only at the Centre for Public Inquiry and Mr. Connolly but at this party, Sinn Féin, which I am proud to represent in this Chamber. Does the Taoiseach agree that Stormontgate was an example of a state using its power to undertake political dirty tricks, and that the action of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which the Taoiseach apparently endorses and connived in, has exactly the same intent as that of the British securocrats? The Taoiseach acts no differently, and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is no different from his counterparts in the British securocrat system who have tried to subvert the new political dispensation emerging in the North of Ireland and throughout the island.

What are the threats——

There are seven minutes allotted to each question, the Deputy has already taken up six minutes.

The Ceann Comhairle could have said the same to Deputies Kenny and Rabbitte. As this is the last Leaders' Questions of this year I want the Taoiseach to spell out absolutely clearly what threat he believes there is to the security of this State from any organisation today.

I do not wish to end the last Leaders' Question time in the acrimonious way that the Deputy and I began the year on the subject of the Northern Bank raid. I will confine myself to saying that Deputy Ó Caoláin does not believe there was a bogus passport application form.

What does that have to do with the security of the State?

The Deputy believes it did not exist or that Colombia, and all the difficulties arising out of that incident, never happened. I played my role in trying to assist in the release of Irish people held in Colombia. I did more than my fair share when I spoke to the Colombian President and senior officials.

I did not make up the passport application form. Neither I nor the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform placed it in the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Who does the Taoiseach suggest did so?

How did that threaten the State?

Somebody had a bogus document. If somebody feels aggrieved at, and maligned by, anything said inside or outside the House there is a way to vindicate himself or herself through the courts——

That is exactly what the Minister and this State should have done, instead of abusing this House.

——if a person feels this is an issue. Let us not con ourselves into believing this was not a serious issue.

The only subversion of the State is that which the Taoiseach and his colleagues enact.