MINISTER FOR Justice Dermot Ahern was forced into the Dáil to renew anti-terrorism legislation amid uproar as the House was suspended three times because of his absence.
The row erupted when it emerged that Mr Ahern was giving a press conference on legislative proposals to defend victims' rights, while Minister of State Barry Andrews was in the chamber to move the motion to renew the 1998 Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act, introduced a decade ago in the wake of the Omagh bombing.
Mr Ahern's proposals for victims of crime pre-empted Fine Gael Private Members' legislation, due to be introduced next week by the party's spokesman on children Alan Shatter.
Fine Gael justice spokesman Charles Flanagan insisted that "we agreed to this debate on the strict understanding that the Minister would move the motion".
Mr Ahern was repeatedly accused of "arrogance" and "contempt for the House" and Mr Shatter said it was "outrageous that a press conference should be held today to announce legislation the Minister might publish in a year's time".
After two Dáil suspensions of five and 15 minutes and his press conference, Mr Ahern returned to the House but remained seated while Mr Andrews again attempted to introduce the debate.
But after further interruptions by Mr Flanagan and Mr Shatter and a third suspension, for 30 minutes, Mr Ahern took the debate.
Before he began however, he described Mr Shatter as being "like a spoiled child whose toy has been taken away from him".
Earlier when Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said the Minister for Justice was holding a press conference on victims' rights legislation, she expressed surprise that Mr Flanagan was not in attendance.
Mr Flanagan said it was "a bit mean of the Government and the Minister to gazump this House in that fashion", by announcing victims' rights proposals when Fine Gael would introduce legislation next week, and he added that "the Minister is not sufficiently generous to acknowledge the initiative we have taken on this matter".
He asked: "Is this another example of government by press conference." Mr Shatter said it was "making a farce of politics and a fool of the members of the House. It shows contempt for democracy." Labour justice spokesman Pat Rabbitte said a committee meeting to deal with the Immigration Bill had been cancelled because the Minister was due to deal with the anti-terrorism motion. They had been "blatantly misled" and the Minister "has sent his junior minister to the House to take this important issue".
Mr Ahern subsequently introduced the motion to renew the legislation and said that "although progress has been made within Northern Ireland and the Provisional IRA is committed to following the political path, there remains a real and ongoing threat from a variety of dissident republican groups".
He said "these groups continue to seek to acquire and manufacture weapons, to plant explosive devices and to target members of the security forces".
Sinn Féin is the only Dáil party to oppose the legislation and justice spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh claimed "the Minister has not shown that we have an emergency which could possibly justify the continuation of the draconian measures".
He said the Act was "contrary to the Good Friday agreement requirement that steps be taken towards security normalisation, including the progressive elimination of the Act's provisions as circumstances permit".
Mr Ó Snodaigh added that "repression breeds resistance and that is an important lesson the Minister should bear in mind". The legislation was renewed for 12 months without a vote as SF did not have the support of a minimum of 10 TDs required for a division.
