Seanad report: The issue raised by the murder of Dublin man Joseph Rafferty was what kind of society did we want, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, said. "The issue is, are we prepared to live under the yoke of bullying, violence and intimidation as part of the ordinary coinage of life?"
The Minister was speaking on an all-party Seanad motion supporting the Rafferty family in its quest for justice, condemning any intimidation of the Raffertys and calling on everyone - but particularly on Sinn Féin - who had any awareness of or contact with people who might be in a position to assist the Garda investigation to use their influence to that effect.
Members of the Rafferty family were in the public gallery for the debate, which was initiated by Fine Gael.
Mr McDowell said that the chief suspect in the killing remained someone who would be regarded as a member of the IRA. He had received important information on the murder from the Garda but he did not want to say anything that might in any way prejudice the outcome of the investigation and the objective of bringing the killer to justice.
The Garda had taken steps to counteract threats against the family, he added. "Moreover, I understand that two persons linked to the murder investigation are currently before the courts in relation to offences that include elements of intimidation."
The Minister said the Garda authorities believed that suspicion for this crime pointed strongly to a disagreement between the deceased's family and another family, among the latter of whom were persons known to them to be Sinn Féin activists.
There was no doubt that in the weeks immediately before the brutal murder and as a consequence of the disagreement that existed between the families, explicit violence threats were made against members of the extended Rafferty family in which the name of the Provisional IRA was clearly invoked.
Brian Hayes, Fine Gael leader in the House, said it was incumbent on all members to expose republican gangsterism wherever it raised its ugly head and to make it clear that they would not put up with this in the new post-agreement Ireland. It was intolerable that a small group of gangsters felt that they had a right in some working class communities to act as judge, jury and policeman.
John Minihan (PD) said that rather than going out of business, the IRA were going into business. "The army council of the IRA and its political membership oversee the transformation from a heavily armed private army into a lightly armed criminal enforcement group. I would urge no one to take any part in Sinn Féin's activities to change Irish society."
Maurice Hayes (Ind) said that the need to change the culture of "Omerta" was a challenge to those who aspired to political leadership and political office. Besides arms decommissioning, there also had to be a decommissioning of a culture. There was a baggage of criminality and of fellow travellers who would be millstones around their necks. He would appeal to the people in Sinn Féin to face up to this, disown these people and get rid of them.
Martin Mansergh (FF) said that although the Raffertys had suffered in a way that people should not have to suffer, by their reaction to what had happened to them and the courage they had shown, they had, like the McCartneys, rendered a real public service.