Prevention of Terrorism Debate (MR. Speaker's Ruling)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 21 Mawrth 1979.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Mr James Kilfedder Mr James Kilfedder , North Down 12:00, 21 Mawrth 1979

Last year when the Home Secretary sought the extension of the powers under the 1976 Act for a further 12 months, he did so, as he said on the day in question, after a year which had been free of terrorist attacks—that is, free of such attacks in England, Scotland and Wales. But he went on to warn the House that this did not mean that people in Great Britain were free from the danger of Provisional IRA attack, and he reminded the House of the way in which the Provisional IRA operates, with small groups of terrorists hidden away in flats and rooms in the larger cities of Great Britain, perhaps quietly building up supplies of arms and explosives and surveying their targets. Without doubt, that is the way in which the Provisional IRA operates.

In this country we want liberty for the citizens—that is, liberty under the rule of law—and what we do not want but could easily have, if we put into effect what is preached by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Mr. Litterick), is a country soon taken over by the terrorists, who would trample on every right of the citizen and replace the rule of law with the gun.

We have seen this in Northern Ireland, where young children have been murdered without compunction by the Provisional IRA. We have had other obscene offences in Northern Ireland, and we have witnessed such evil behaviour in this country, too.

Last year was a year of peace in Great Britain. I doubt whether that will be the case this year. We saw what happened before Christmas. Someone sent me a copy of the Republican News. I understand that it is the newspaper of the Provisional IRA. It is fairly old, being dated 23 December of last year. But it is worth mentioning that across the front page is the banner headline:"IRA Bomb England ". I shall read only a small extract, just to remind the House what we are up against with this vicious enemy. The article states: The Republican people feel the growing political power of resurgent IRA activity, given the recent raising of the struggle at home, and now the re-opening up of a war front in England. Whether the enemy "— that is, the people whom the hon. Member for Selly Oak represents, and all the rest of the people in the United Kingdom— Whether the enemy likes it or not, international attention is being focused on the British occupation of Ireland. The article goes on to say that the Irish Republican Army declared to the English people—not to the people in Northern Ireland, but the English people: We were responsible for the widespread bombing attacks in your country on Sunday and Monday morning. Don't remain complacent because of the nature of these attacks. We deliberately choose the time and the targets. Your intelligence will continue to give us logistical problems, which, however, we believe we can overcome. We now give due warning to you, the English people, that in future both the targets and the timing might be changed. The threat is quite clear. If this Act was not continued for a further 12 months, if these people could operate quite freely without any hindrance placed upon them, the lives of many people, young children as well as adults, would be put in jeopardy and property would be destroyed.

I conclude my reference to the Republican News by quoting the last paragraph of the statement which refers to the campaign of vilification of the security forces and the police. It talks about the"restraint"which the Provisional IRA has shown. Is there anything more sickening than that remark, when one has seen bits of bodies littered over the ground as a result of a Provisional IRA bomb?

The article says: Politicians who call for increased repression as a counter-measure to our struggle for national liberation "— and what they want, of course, is a Marxist Ireland— should be aware that they gamble with English lives. We want peace but there will be no end to violence until the English people exercise a bit of humanity. Is it not high time that the Provisional IRA exercised a bit of humanity? This debate would not be taking place tonight if the Provisional IRA had ceased its operations. The hon. Member for Selly Oak could quite easily say to the Provisional IRA "Stop your violence, and stop your murder and mutilations; then we shall have no more of the suspension of civil rights or legal rights which is contained in the order before the House of Commons."

But, of course, we have the declaration—we heard it from the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough (Mr. Flannery)—that IRA violence was spawned by 50 years of Unionist rule in Northern Ireland. What the hon. Member for Hillsborough and other Labour Members seem to forget is that this IRA activity is going on in the Irish Republic. Are Labour Members suggesting that there is Unionist rule in Eire which causes the Provisional IRA to murder and to rob banks, and so on, in Eire? That is utter nonsense. What Labour Members have been talking about tonight is utter nonsense.

As a result of the criminal activities of the Provisional IRA in the Irish Republic, the Dublin Government introduced special courts, without juries, to deal with members of the Provisional IRA, those charged with terrorism or membership of that organisation. That was the only way in which the Dublin Government felt that they could deal with this threat to civil liberties in the Republic.

To put this matter in its proper perspective, it was as long ago as the 1940s that the Eire Government—a Republican Government brought into being as a result of IRA activity against British rule in 1916 and up to the 1920s—introduced military courts to try IRA prisoners. Some were executed without the normal rights of appeal. I do not approve of that situation. But it shows the risk to which the Eire Government, a Republican Government sympathetic to the Republican cause, felt they were exposed by allowing the IRA to function and to murder in the Republic.

I give that as an example of what we face in Northern Ireland. This has not been born because of Unionist rule over the past 50 years or even the past 10 years. It has been endemic in Irish life. The gun has never been laid down. Until the Provisional IRA relinquishes its ambition of creating an all-Ireland Marxist Republic, there will not be peace in Northern Ireland and we shall not be able to get rid of this temporary legislation.