Mr Alan Dukes, a former government minister, said the Bill was "bad legislation". The Fine Gael TD for Kildare South said he wanted the Omagh bombers found and "I want them behind bars".
He added: "But I believe in the rule of law. The State should not take arbitrary powers which carry the clear danger of penalising the wrong people. The State can never descend to acting `on reasonable suspicion', to convicting people on circumstantial evidence only, to pointing the finger at people because `everybody knows' what they are involved in, and with whom they `associate'.
"The further we go down that road the more we make the State and the forces of law and order comparable to those who shoot out of hand those they believe to be their enemies, who kneecap people about whom they receive complaints and who administer `punishment beating' to those who are suspected of betraying their cause."
He added that "we will be far better served if the Minister is serious about enhancing police operational capacity and the allocation of additional resources to the Garda Siochana to counter terrorists than we will be by this badly-drafted legislation".
Sinn Fein opposed the Bill in its entirety, Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain (Cavan-Monaghan) said. The legislation runs "contrary to the spirit and the letter of the Good Friday Agreement. One of the main reasons for nationalist and republican support for the agreement is the centrality within it of human rights and civil liberties."
He said "those central elements" of the agreement were being undermined, "as drastic measures are rushed through the Oireachtas, and as similar measures are rushed through the British Houses of Parliament".
He added that the Belfast Agreement "has the potential to transform the discredited legal and judicial system in the North; the new laws being introduced by the British government, and made possible by the action of the Irish Government, are now grievously damaging that potential for positive change."
Democratic Left's justice spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, put forward an amendment that the legislation would lapse by March 31st next year unless the human rights commission had been established.
The nature of the legislation was unambiguous, she said, but it was "not enough to rush through harsh measures in response to the natural public revulsion at the Omagh bombings. It is not enough to find and punish the guilty if we do not also at the same time protect the innocent."
Ms McManus added that "if we fail to protect basic human and civil rights then we are handing the terrorists a victory". The Wicklow TD said "we are seeking to create the democratic controls that are needed but that are as yet, absent from the Bill. Without such accountability a hasty knee-jerk reaction both here and in Britain can, and indeed will, have serious long-term dangers."
Labour's justice spokesman, Mr Pat Upton, said the Bill was a "concerted, focused attempt to eliminate violence from Irish politics. It is an attempt to face down those who do not adhere to democracy and who are not prepared to use democratic means to advance their cause."
He said "emotional responses have not stopped the bombers and murderers . . Instead they have resorted to lying low for a period until the public outrage waned and then continued the `war'.
"The Bill is unique in its serious intent to isolate and crush those who cause carnage and destruction in the name of the Irish people. Therefore, we support it."
He added that "legitimate fears have been expressed as to a possible erosion of civil liberties by the innovative parts of this Bill. The Labour Party cannot ignore these, but neither can we renege on our responsibilities to ensure that all possible measures are taken to apprehend those responsible for the carnage at Omagh and to ensure that they are not afforded the opportunity to repeat their wanton acts of terror."
Mr Conor Lenihan (FF, Dublin South-West) said the legislation "has been described as draconian and so it must be. The threat posed by this former quartermaster and his allies is real. It must be dealt with ruthlessly to protect those in society who have voted for peace."
He said investigating gardai should not just give suspects a verbal caution but Mr Brendan Howlin, said his party accepted the need for legislation of this nature "given the threat to democracy and the peace process posed by small, but fanatical, terror groups".
He defended the passing of the legislation in one sitting. The Labour Party had given much thought and debate to the Bill and "recognise that it needs to be passed with alacrity to ensure that the gardai can proceed with their investigations into the `Real IRA' and bring before the courts those responsible for crimes committed over the past year, and in particular those in this jurisdiction responsible for the carnage in Omagh".
Fine Gael's spokesman on Northern Ireland, Mr Charles Flanagan, said that the ambivalence about "informing" should have "no place in our society as we enter a new millennium".
However, the Socialist Party TD, Mr Joe Higgins (Dublin West) criticised the US President and said that the bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan was an act of state terrorism. He also criticised the legislation and said it turned the traditional onus of proof on its head in a "most alarming way. An incredibly wide range of activities can now be construed as criminal unless the person proves his/her innocence."