Orders of the Day — Northern Ireland Constitution (Amendment) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 13 Rhagfyr 1973.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Miss Bernadette Devlin Miss Bernadette Devlin , Mid-Ulster 12:00, 13 Rhagfyr 1973

I have often been accused, both inside and outside the House, of oversimplifying matters in order to put my point of view, but a gross over-simplification is being perpetrated in the House by the Government and the Opposition. The people of Northern Ireland are being told that they must accept the new Executive, the amendents to the Constitution Act, and the Council of Ireland, not because they are good, profitable or progressive but because of the negative results of not accepting them. Little argument has been put forward of how well the new machinery will work, how long it may last, or where exactly it will lead.

Anyone who has watched recent television news reports and interviews will have seen Mr. Brian Faulkner in the peculiar position of insisting that the Council of Ireland, while not a step towards a united Ireland, is not a bar on the door. The hon. Member for Belfast, West (Mr. Fitt) on several television channels tried to do Mr. Faulkner's job for him by saying that while the Council of Ireland was not barring the door to a united Ireland it was not a step towards a united Ireland. He was frightened of making Mr. Faulkner's job of selling the package more difficult.

The people of Northern Ireland are being told that they must accept this package—this new deal—otherwise there is the threat—such as we had in the 1920s—of a bloody and terrible war. The people are being led to believe that if the proposals are not accepted the consequence is the dire possibility, and indeed probability, of civil war in Northern Ireland. From those who believe in the proposals we have not heard any argument to counter the growing fear that the package itself gives rise to a greater possibility and probability of that civil war. While it is perfectly easy for the spokesman for the Opposition to say in the House that it can be a sell-out to the Loyalists or to the Republicans but it cannot be a sellout to both, that is two-dimensional logic which has no bearing on reality.

The fears of the Loyalists are not in direct opposition to the fears and demands of the Republicans. To take one example, the important question of extradition. The Loyalists are convinced that people who commit acts of terrorism—as they see it—against the State in Northern Ireland escape to the safe haven of their friends in the Republic. It is, therefore, most important to them to get changes in the extradition laws out of the Council of Ireland negotiations. They did not get that, so they lost. But did we win? Of course we did not win, for the simple reason that nobody—and by that I mean myself the people of the Republic and even the Government of Ireland—wants to see the extradition laws changed.

The people most affected by the extradition policy, that is to say, both wings of the IRA, are not greatly concerned about extradition. They may be grateful for the existing extradition laws, but can it be said that if the extradition laws were changed, and the 30 men of whom the hon. Member for Belfast, East (Mr. McMaster) spoke did not have the safe haven of the Republic they would not have committed the acts they did? I dispute that strongly. The death penalty was no deterrent to them. A change in the extradition laws might make escape to the so-called haven of the Curragh Camp more difficult, but it would not prevent those men from believing as they believe and doing what they do.

Therefore, whilst the Loyalist population lost because they did not get the extradition laws changed, it was no great win for the Republicans. To them it was an inessential irrelevance.

The same question arises on the acceptance of the Constitution of Northern Ireland. The Loyalists have been given a United Nations enshrinement of a doubt. They have been told that so long as they do not change their mind they are all right. All they have to do is to go through life wearing a pair of blinkers and never seeing what is round the corner. If they never change their mind, no one will change it for them. There is no safeguard that in five or ten years' time there will not be a change. All they are told is that from now till eternity the only protection they have against progress is to close their minds to it and keep on saying "No". That is hardly a recipe for persuading anyone to change his mind. No logic or art of persuasion has been used. No social or economic arguments have been advanced to persuade them to change their mind. They are just told to keep their mind closed. The Loyalists are not convinced. They do not want the Government to say, "So long as you do not change your mind you will never be in the Irish Republic."

What the Loyalists want the Government to say is what the Government cannot say. It is time the Government admitted that they cannot say, "You will never, ever, be part of a united Ireland". That is what the Loyalists want to hear. That will never happen. The British Government cannot say that because they know that it will happen. In the interests of the British economic community and of the industrial future of Britain and Ireland alike, whether or not the Protestants want it, into the Republic of Ireland they are going. May be not tomorrow, may be not next year, but sooner or later, like it or not, that is where they are going. Why not be honest about it? Why keep saying to people, "Keep your minds closed, close your eyes, and it will never happen", when one knows that as soon as they close their eyes it will be done behind their back.