The clashes over whether the sentences imposed on the killers of Det Garda Jerry McCabe must be fully served in all circumstances have some of the quality of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object. The issue was the subject of an intense debate in the Seanad last Wednesday.
When the news of the Adare shootings came through in June 1996, it was immediately made clear by Fianna Fáil (in opposition) to representatives of the republican movement, that anyone involved and convicted would not benefit from early release under any future agreement. The reasoning was that what happened in Adare, whatever its background, was an entirely gratuitous act of violence, that had no intrinsic connection to the Northern situation.
The Provisional movement went at first into denial, and unfortunately are still in denial. The Sinn Féin chairman, Mitchel McLaughlin, for whom I have a high regard, was at his least convincing and most casuistical in an interview with the Limerick Leader (May 15th), already quoted in this paper two days ago for satirical purposes by Newton Emerson: "Do we apologise? Do we accept responsibility for what happened to Garda McCabe? I think if people are prepared to recognise that we were all part of a moment of failure, that resulted in the collapse of the IRA ceasefire, during which period the killing occurred, they should also share that responsibility. So would you be asking anyone else to apologise for the killing?"
If by that he is implying, say, that John Major and John Bruton should be asked to apologise for the killing of Garda McCabe, and that the action, despite being a flagrant breach of IRA discipline, could be explained by the breakdown of the IRA ceasefire, the argument should be dismissed out of hand.
There would have been no Belfast Agreement and no stability in the peace process, unless provision had been made by both governments for an accelerated programme for the release of paramilitary prisoners belonging to organisations on ceasefire, loyalist and republican. That programme of release was painful and unpalatable to a great many people, most especially families of victims. The only exception set out concerned those belonging to (dissident) organisations who had not established a complete and unequivocal ceasefire. Similar offences outside Northern Ireland were covered.
It has been a long-established principle in this State, that the murder of gardaí, mostly unarmed, is a particularly heinous offence, and since the abolition of the death penalty carries a mandatory life sentence. Maintenance of this is effectively a solemn political contract between the State and the Garda.
Following the ceasefires and the agreement, the Department of Justice had difficult decisions to recommend with regard to earlier life sentences imposed on paramilitaries, but at least more than 15 to 20 years had already been served.
Enormous ongoing pressure has been applied to the Taoiseach demanding the early release of the killers of Garda McCabe. Gerry Adams would not be the first to misread the steel behind the Taoiseach's conciliatory manner and apparent receptiveness to argument.
The reality is that nearly eight years have now been served by the Adare killers, where everyone else was released, and the term "early release" is becoming something of a misnomer. The essential point made in the judgment of our courts is that the Belfast Agreement (outside the British-Irish Agreement annexed to it, which does not cover prisoners) is a political agreement, not a legally-binding one. The release of the killers of Det Garda McCabe judged to be qualifying prisoners, though they were not initially so regarded, is being left to last as an act of completion in the Irish Government's implementation of the agreement.
The Government appears to have accepted the reality of the point made by Mitchel McLaughlin in the Limerick Leader: "It's impossible for me to conceive that there could be closure or a finalisation of the peace process, but some of the prisoners of the conflict would remain in prison." It is clear the release could have taken place last year, if a package including full paramilitary acts of completion and the restoration of the institutions had been agreed, and that the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, the most outspoken critic of the republican movement, was prepared to stand over it.
A leak that may have been intended to embarrass him has hardened positions, as the revelation has raised undoubted public anger. We should be wary of an auction politics in moral fulmination. It may be that the political progress sought is unattainable at the present time, in which case the question remains academic.
The Government, while deeply concerned about the sensitivities of the family of Det Garda McCabe, will have been grateful for the comment of Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan, who was wounded in the same attack but survived. He said if releases would really help bring the conflict to a final end he could support them.
Mitchel McLaughlin gave a better interview in the Guardian (May 20th), where he is reported as saying that Sinn Féin is determined "to get rid of the IRA", and that decommissioning would have continued "to the point when there would have been no more arms to destroy". He also spoke of closing a chapter, and, using some hyperbole with reference to IRA volunteers, of applying "that type of commitment and creativity and innovation to a political process or other forms of civilianised existence".
The Government has held the line for a long time. In the context of drawing a definitive and credible line under all forms of mainstream republican paramilitarism and the reactivation of the institutions, the Taoiseach is right to make it clear to the public, however unpopular and less than ideal it may be, that the relevant prisoners detained in Castlerea then fall to be released.
When that day comes, everyone will again be forcibly reminded of a murder, all aspects of which have been demeaning, distressing and disgraceful.