The language of the hon. Member for Down, North does not perturb me. I have heard it many times before. He has never forgiven me for beating hell out of him in the Belfast, West election in 1966.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is supporting whatever members of the RUC do in their fight against the IRA. He says that they are a good body of policemen. On many occasions I have read of the brutal and dastardly crimes committed by the IRA against honest and decent members of the RUC. No one is more sorry than I about that. I have recently received anonymous letters from other parts of the United Kingdom suggesting that I support the IRA to the total exclusion of saying anything in favour of the security forces. Every hon. Member knows that that is totally untrue. From the onset of the Provisional IRA campaign I have opposed it and have made that clear. But I do not support without criticism and close scrutiny every measure taken by the RUC in Castlereagh.

It is clear that my right bon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Chief Constable of the RUC are not enthusiastic to apprehend members of the RUC guilty of that behaviour. They may be small in number in Castlereagh, but only one is one too many.

I should like briefly to refer to Dr. Irwin, and I hope that justice will be done without having continuously to raise this matter in the House. Dr. Stanley Burgess has supported Dr. Irwin's allegations. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph on 19 March, he said: Those of us who are privileged to know Dr. Irwin have never doubted his courage, sincerity, competence or impartiality. We believe his allegations were on an honest expression of his contempt for circumstances which offended him as a person, a medical practitioner and a forensic physician. That is a character reference from no less a person than the president of the Association of Police Surgeons of Great Britain. That recommendation is stronger than anything said by those in the Northern Ireland Office or the ranks of the RUC. A campaign has been waged to justify the actions of certain members of the RUC, which are condemned by all who believe in justice.

Restricted as this debate has been, I have been able to give sufficient reasons why I shall not be in the Lobby tonight supporting a further extension of the Prevention of Terrorism Act. I believe that it is unnecessary. It has been used against many Irish people who have been living in Britain for most of their lives or were born here. It gives rise to racial prejudice in the United Kingdom. Evilly disposed persons can use the Act as a means of vengeance or ill will against someone with whom they do not agree because he or she is of Irish extraction. Even though the Home Secretary has said that the Act has recently been used in connection with UDA people in Scotland, the main import of it has been linked with those who have expressed the ideal of the eventual reunification of Ireland.

This debate has been helpful in view of the revelations of the Bennett report. I believe that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has not been wise to give such blanket support to every member of the RUC involved in Castlereagh.

Recently on the Floor of the House I said that the interview between Dr. Irwin and the Assistant Chief Constable, Mr. Killen, had been taped. I have since been led to understand that this was not so. If I caused any embarrassment to Mr. Killen, I unreservedly withdraw. That being said, I still believe that the police in Northern Ireland have placed themselves in the position of condoning ill treatment to persons who are guilty of no crime. Unless and until this Government take decisive action to bring that intolerable set of circumstances to an end, this legislation and any legislation in similar terms will meet with my unremitting opposition.