Paramilitary groups which failed to declare ceasefires would face the consequences, the Taoiseach told the Seanad. "These people are about to learn a lesson that will teach them to respect the strength of Irish democracy," Mr Ahern said as he extended sympathy to the bereaved and injured in the Omagh bombing.
He welcomed the acknowledgement by the INLA in its ceasefire statement that the conditions created by the Belfast Agreement demanded a ceasefire. The House demanded that other groups followed suit.
"The time for sophistry that provides a cover for murderous attacks on fellow-Irish men and women is over," Mr Ahern said at the start of the one-day special debate on the anti-terrorist legislation introduced by the Government.
The State's primary objective had always been to take the most effective security response, "conscious that particular responses could, in the long run, have exacerbated the situation and ultimately caused more lives to be lost than would otherwise be the case".
The Taoiseach said that years from now "survivors may still be recovering from their injuries and will be reminded on a daily basis of what they have survived; the friends and loved ones of the bereaved will still mourn and will still live with their shattered dreams of what might have been; and many will be haunted by the horrific scenes of human suffering and devastation which they witnessed.
"We must all do that we can to end bitter sectarianism and division. A terrible price has been paid for an unwillingness to find accommodation," he said.
Government anti-terrorist legislation should not be conceived as a "backlash" to tragedy, the Seanad Leader, Mr Donie Cassidy, said. "It must be carefully drafted and subject to strict review within a stated and relatively short time-frame. The rule of law on which our democracy is founded must not be jeopardised by our reaction to those who seek to undermine both democracy and its standards of justice."
The sense of outrage felt by people of every political opinion at the bombing was "fuelled by the sheer cruelty of the act itself, the dreadful suffering it has inflicted and the deliberate flouting of the will of the people", Mr Cassidy said.
Mr Maurice Manning, the Seanad Opposition leader, said the House was thinking "of the people who will live the rest of their lives in pain and agony, people whose lives henceforth are about survival, not fulfilment, about constant pain and dependence on others - in some cases the ultimate sacrifice might have been more merciful.
"We in this House, as we in this country, must never forget Omagh, not even with the successful conclusion of the peace process, which we all devoutly wish for, not even that must be allowed to diminish or lessen the horror of that awful day in Omagh.
"We must never forget the evil of what was done in our name, and we must never forget that these perverted people claimed to speak in the name of the sovereign Irish people and in so claiming they perpetrated this terrible act," he said.
Mr John Dardis (PD), deputy Government Leader in the House, noted that concerns had been expressed in the Dail that the Bill infringed fundamental rights. "That may or may not be the case, but there is a superior and more fundamental right, and that is the right of each of our citizens to life, the right to a future.
"It is within that context that it is correct to enact the legislation. The democratic will of the people has been overwhelmingly expressed through the ballot box and must be vindicated. The State must resist and reject fascism. True republicanism must be proclaimed and not debased. The people are the sole source of authority in this Republic and the people have spoken."
Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) said the will of all the people on the island of Ireland had been attacked with contempt and venom, with horror and with terror as the terrorists had sought to blast the democratic process into smithereens. Those responsible for the Omagh outrage had managed to scar for ever the image of Irish democracy. However, it was important to bear in mind that they had scored one significant victory "because we saw a united people again. We saw Protestant, Catholic, republican, unionist, nationalist, culturally British, culturally Irish, politically British, politically Irish, and we were all united in horror and revulsion and in rejection of the violence that has been visited on us without any mandate from anybody."
Mr Joe Costello (Lab) said that as a public representative with a long record of involvement in civil liberties and in campaigning for victims of miscarriages of justice, he did not relish the passage of this kind of legislation. However, strong and effective action must be taken against the killers who had set off the bomb in Omagh.
But the proposed legislation and the resulting security clampdown by the gardai were not the only responses needed at this critical time. We also needed a political response which would underpin the progress that had taken place over the last four years.
Mr Costello said he welcomed the statement by Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, last Tuesday. Its timing had been crucial and while there were those who would prefer a more forthright use of language, he believed this was not the time to become involved in a squabble over semantics.