Dail Report: The killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe would have been released last year only if there was full IRA decommissioning, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, insisted.
He said what was being considered was the context in which their possible release might arise. "It was to happen only in the context of acts of total completion, as I have said. That term means arms decommissioning and an end to all forms of paramilitarism by the IRA, which means that the IRA will have moved definitively away from violence to the end position."
During sharp exchanges with the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, the Taoiseach said that "both the Tánaiste and I, as much as anyone else, have enormous issues of concern over the release of four people who killed Gerard McCabe."
He added that he had made this clear in the debate in the House last year, when he said there was no doubt about the object or purpose of the IRA and Sinn Féin statements on October 21st.
Mr Kenny said assurances had been given that Det Garda McCabe's killers would never benefit from the early release provisions of the Belfast Agreement.
"Over last weekend and yesterday, the Taoiseach and Ministers clearly shifted their position. The Taoiseach now talks about early release being considered if the achievements of acts of completion were assured. The Tánaiste says that early release would be considered only after the IRA had been disbanded and all paramilitary and criminal activities stopped.
"However, the leader of Sinn Féin, Mr Gerry Adams, who was party to these discussions, says that the killers involved, who pumped 12 bullets into the body of Det Garda McCabe, would be walking the streets if the October deal had been agreed, with a single act of decommissioning.
"That has caused revulsion among the ordinary, decent citizens of this land," Mr Kenny said.
Mr Ahern said it had been consistently made clear that a complete transition to a peaceful and democratic society in Northern Ireland was required. "I do not want Deputy Kenny to say that it was the mere matter of a single act of arms decommissioning. That was not the arrangement last year, and no one was trying to achieve that. It was only one part of the total process of what we were trying to negotiate in April and October. We are still trying to negotiate that and have not been successful."
He said the events of October 21st had not unfolded in a way that instilled the confidence necessary to complete last year's negotiations.
"Yesterday, I said that it involved a complex set of undertakings with a range of elements which would emerge as a sequence of agreed statements and supporting actions, some by the Government, some by Sinn Féin, some by the IRA and some by unionists. Deputy Kenny asked whether, having achieved all that, we would have honoured our commitments. Yes, we would have done so. If all those points had been agreed, we would have honoured our commitments. However, that did not happen.
"I emphasise that we are not talking about one point but about a whole sequence and range of issues."
Mr Kenny said that last weekend the Sinn Féin leader had said he felt cheated. "However, the people who can rightly feel cheated are Anne McCabe, her family and the late Det Garda McCabe's relatives, friends and colleagues."
Mr Ahern insisted there were no differences on viewpoints on the issue.
"The Government has been consistent in what it has been seeking to do. We have set out in paragraph 13 of the joint declaration that we have been trying to bring paramilitarism to an end."
Mr Ahern said the Government had stated it needed to see an immediate, full, permanent cessation of all military activity, including military attacks, training, targeting, intelligence gathering, the acquisition or development of arms or weapons, other preparations for terrorist campaigns, punishment beatings, attacks and involvement in riots.
"Moreover, the practice of exiling must be brought to an end and exiles must be free to return safely home," Mr Ahern said.
