Dáil Report: The Taoiseach emphatically denied that a member of Fianna Fáil had sought to have the IRA ceasefire delayed until after the 1997 general election. Michael O'Regan reports.
Mr Ahern said that, to his knowledge, nobody in the party had ever met the IRA Army Council before 1997. "I do not believe any such meeting ever took place with anybody asking that the ceasefire be delayed. I am certain about this because I was deeply involved in that period. I am emphatic that no meeting in any form occurred."
He was replying to the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, who said: "I accept that the Taoiseach has put a great deal of effort into moving forward the peace process. However, the persistent claim that, prior to the 1997 general election, a member of the Fianna Fáil party met members of the IRA Army Council to ask it to delay the implementation of a ceasefire has caused me concern over the years. Does the Taoiseach have knowledge of this matter, so as to put it to rest for once and for all ?"
Meanwhile, Mr Ahern insisted that paramilitary activity must end, as he again faced questions on alleged IRA criminality.
"Paramilitary activity, whether in Dublin or Northern Ireland, must end, and the message is loud and clear," said Mr Ahern. "I am more interested in bringing an end to these activities and getting on with the political aspect." He added that the fact the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, and he had raised matters, particularly relating to activities in Dublin Port, had indirectly resulted in a lot of action being taken which might put an end to some of the criminal events or the linking of criminal gangs to those orchestrated elsewhere. "There is good intelligence which indicates that the message is sinking home and some of these acts might end."
Mr Kenny said he did not wish to interfere in the process of bringing criminals to justice. He asked if the Taoiseach had individual intelligence briefings at the same information levels as were available to Mr McDowell. Mr Ahern said that such criminal activities would be investigated through the Criminal Assets Bureau and the various Garda intelligence units. "There have been many suggestions about racketeering in petrol, vodka and so on, of which the Garda is well aware. I have been given briefings about the matters we indicated recently, but I would rather not go into the specifics."
Earlier, Mr Kenny said that the IRA still existed, was involved in punishment beatings, extortion, abductions, information gathering, money laundering and organising robberies.
He added that Mr Ahern and the Government had a clear political responsibility to deal with such matters. "Has he evidence of extortion, money laundering, public houses fronting for the IRA, and that its existence destroys the democratic credentials of its political wing, namely, the Sinn Féin party?" Mr Ahern said that recent events, including those which had been evident for a considerable time, as well as the near execution of an individual, had focused on the fact that there was criminality and that those matters were linked to the IRA.
Mr McDowell told the Dail that briefings he had received from security forces strongly confirmed the links between the IRA and Sinn Féin. However, he said he would not be drawn, on the basis of such flawed "put up or shut up" reasoning, into disclosing the nuts and bolts of security briefings, especially when they related to ongoing paramilitary activity, engagement in punishment beatings, or criminal activity undertaken for personal gain.