Taoiseach appeals for help in Kerr murder

TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny has added his voice to appeals for anyone with information about the killers of PSNI officer Ronan Kerr to come forward.

“No effort must be spared in bringing them to justice,” he said. “This was a heinous and pointless act of terror by a small segment of the population whose motivation lies in the dark past.”

Opening a Dáil debate on the death of the 25-year-old constable who was killed by a car bomb in Omagh on Saturday, Mr Kenny said “the rejection of this awful crime and the united response of the political parties and of civic society sends a very clear message.

“We will quite simply not allow a return to instability and violence. The democratic will of the people will not be defeated.”

Mr Kenny said the Government would provide every support to the investigation and highlighted the great levels of co-operation between the Garda and the PSNI.

He said: “This House is united today, as is our country, in remembering the life of a proud Irishman, Constable Ronan Kerr. A proud Irishman, who loved his country and who lost is life in the service of Ireland and in the cause of peace.”

Mr Kenny agreed to a call from Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin for an all-party motion condemning the killing, which Mr Martin described as an attack on the peace process itself.

He said: “In the aftermath of an horrific murder such as this, it is important that a clear, united and unequivocal message be sent from the democratic parliament of the Republic that those responsible for this cowardly atrocity have no mandate and do not act in the name of the Irish people.”

Mr Martin said “real republicans understand and respect the fact that the Irish people are sovereign. Real republicans recognise and accept that the Irish people have democratically expressed their support for peace on this island and stand firmly behind that inspired decision”.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said republicans were “seething with anger” about this killing. Those “who murdered Ronan Kerr are not the IRA. It has embraced, facilitated and supported the peace process”.

Addressing his remarks directly to “those responsible for violent actions and others who might tolerate them”, Mr Adams said Sinn Féin leaders had “offered some time ago to meet you and outline our strategy, its ability for advancing republican objectives and our belief in the futility of armed actions. So far you have refused to speak to us. You’ve dismissed us, you’ve placed a death threat on some of us.”

He added that “the people of this island demand you stop”. He reminded them that “the war is over” and “the IRA is gone”.

Chairman of the technical group of Independents Finian McGrath said “Ronan was one of the 30 per cent of Catholics who now make up the force”.

He said parliamentarians had to change and all Oireachtas and Northern Assembly members “must be guardians of the peace process. Otherwise there will be more Ronan Kerrs. That is the sad reality.”

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said the so-called dissidents were dissenting from democracy. In the last 18 months “around 100 people have been arrested in connection” with terrorist activities. “Currently, 43 people are charged before the Special Criminal Court and 54 people” had been convicted. He stressed: “We will stop at nothing, within the rule of law, to defeat these groups.”

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore encouraged “men and women on all sides of the community in Northern Ireland, but particularly those from the nationalist and republican traditions, to continue to apply to join the PSNI, their own police force, an Irish police force”.

He said “to commit violent acts in direct contravention of the democratically expressed will of the people of all 32 counties of the island is perverse. To claim to be opposing British rule by seeking to undermine the constitutional and political settlement freely chosen by the people of Ireland – and them alone – is absurd.”