The Labour spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello, said it was time to consider if the Offences Against the State Act, as amended, should be a permanent part of the statute book.
"The original Act was a creation of its time," he said. "There are sections that it is quite inconceivable would ever be used now. It is, for instance, an offence to refer in writing to the illegal organisation known as the IRA."
Mr Costello was speaking during a debate on a motion extending the operation of the Offences against the State Act, which, he said, was introduced in September 1998 "in the aftermath of the horrific Omagh bombing".
He added that the Oireachtas had delivered the new powers sought by the Minister and the Garda, "but they failed to deliver the prosecutions and convictions to the extent that we were given to believe would follow".
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said that much had been achieved in the implementation of the peace process and much remained to be done. But there were still those who threatened to subvert it through violence.
"The 1998 Act is part of the democratic response to that threat and I ask this House to continue to enforce its relevant provisions for a further 12 months," he added.
The Fine Gael spokesman on justice, Mr John Deasy, said the threat of violence was increasing. "A bomb was planted in Merrion Square last month which the Garda says would have caused very serious injury to somebody had it exploded," he added.
Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF, Dublin South Central) said there was no evidence that the emergency laws contained in the Act were effective.
He urged the House "to confront the creeping complacency which exists about repressive legislation in the State and to support the repeal of the Act in total".
"Sinn Féin opposed the Offences Against the State Act 1998 when it was originally introduced, just as we have historically opposed repressive legislation in all its forms and the violations of human rights and civil liberties, as well as the numerous miscarriages of justice that have resulted," he added.
