asked the Minister for Justice if he will make a statement regarding the incidents at the Curragh Camp on Saturday, 1st July, 1972; if he will indicate (a) the number of soldiers and others injured while defending the camp and (b) the number arrested for breaches of the law; if he is aware that a further demonstration is planned for next weekend; and the action he intends taking to protect the security forces in the event of a recurrence.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Curragh Camp Incidents.
47.
I am not prepared to comment on the incidents referred to in the question which are the subject of Garda investigations and as a result of which criminal proceedings are likely to be instituted. Moreover, for obvious reasons, I do not propose to make any statement about the action to be taken by the Garda Síochána in relation to a further demonstration that is said to be planned for this coming weekend.
My colleague, the Minister for Defence, to whom a question has also been addressed on this matter will deal with the military aspect.
Will the Minister ensure that there will be adequate police there to protect the prison and also to protect the Defence Forces from these demonstrations?
I am not quite sure what the Deputy means by protecting the Defence Forces.
Surely the Minister is aware that last week they were stoned, beaten with banner poles, that there was paint thrown on them and, according to what we have been told so far, nobody has been prosecuted. Surely the Minister is aware that if this continues, things will become as bad here as they have been in the North of Ireland in the past three years. Is it not time that the Government governed? Surely the Minister is aware that the Taoiseach went on television three years ago and said he would use the full force of the Army and the Civic Guards to put down the farmers? Would he not make a similar announcement on radio and television that he will use the full force of the Garda and the Army to put down subversive elements and to see that we have not mob law, that the Government rule?
The Deputy is, of course, as usual, talking nonsense.
I am not. There is a drift towards chaos.
I am now attempting to answer the Deputy's long-winded question. I know he does not want me to answer it but I am certainly going to answer it. What I want to say is that the Deputy and everybody else can rest assured that all necessary steps are being taken by the Garda and by the Army to ensure that they carry out their duties.
Did you take them when the British Embassy was being burned, when you instructed the police force to stand idly by——
That is a separate question.
——and we have the effects of it throughout the country —a drift to chaos—because you are afraid to govern.
Question No. 48.
If a person appears with a green handerchief it has to be a political decision whether the police will be allowed to arrest him or not. Is this not quite true?
It is not quite true. Not alone is it not true, but the Deputy knows it is not true.
I do not.