On 23 November I asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, in view of the allegations of continual violations of human rights by the British administration in the Six Counties, the Government are prepared to institute proceedings against the British Government before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The Minister replied in the following terms:
The protection of the human and civil rights of all the people of Northern Ireland [that is the same as the Six Counties] is a matter which the Government consider to be of fundamental importance and all developments relating to the question are kept under close and constant review with a view to appropriate action whenever this is considered necessary.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs further stated in column 1796, Volume 309 of the Official Report:
Before the Government can move or should move they should be satisfied that sufficient evidence is available from people who have communicated with them. The Deputy will perhaps be aware that on the last occasion there was a very wide range of information from very authoritative sources who requested this action. That position does not obtain at the moment.
The Minister also said:
The Government are not at present contemplating proceedings of the kind referred to by the Deputy. The Deputy will of course be aware that it is open to any person in Northern Ireland who considers that he or she may have a case to initiate such proceedings on an individual basis.
The Minister's refusing or declining to institute any such proceedings at this time is because he does not have the sort of situation or the sort of information being fed or communicated to him by people concerned as he had on the previous occasion when we successfully took Britain to the court and exposed her for what she is. I would ask the Minister what he is short of at this stage. Is it not well known that things are, if anything, worse now than at the time of the much merited case he and his predecessors in Government took to the Court of Human Rights?
The fact that a man refuses to wear prison uniform or to do prison work should not entail the loss of physical exercise or association with fellow prisoners or contact with the outside world. These are human needs for physical and mental health, not privileges to be handed out as rewards or withheld as punishments. Prisoners have complained to their visitors in the hell hole which is Long Kesh and the source could not be more authoritative than that which I quoted the last time I spoke on the matter of Long Kesh. That source is the Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Ó Fiaich. As a result of his visit to Long Kesh on Sunday, 30 July, during which he witnessed the sad spectacle of the brutalising of prisoners, he said that several prisoners complained to him of beatings, of verbal abuse, of additional punishment for making complaints in cold cells without even a mattress and of degrading searches carried out on the most intimate parts of their naked bodies. Perhaps that would not be enough.
Let us ask ourselves what is the condition of these prisoners, despite this inhuman treatment. The Archbishop said:
In the circumstances, I was surprised that the morale of the prisoners was high. From talking to them it is evident that they intend to continue their protest indefinitely and it seems they prefer to face death rather than submit to being classed as criminals. Anyone with the least knowledge of Irish history knows how deeply rooted this attitude is in our country's past.
The Minister, with his background, is as much aware of the truth of that last sentence as anybody in this House and appreciates it fully.
For what reason are these men being treated as they are? The reasons I am giving are not mine. They are being treated in such an inhuman manner because, as the Archbishop stated:
The authorities refuse to admit that these prisoners are in a different category from the ordinary, yet everything about their trials and family background indicates that they are different. They were sentenced by special courts without juries. The vast majority were convicted on allegedly voluntary confessions obtained in circumstances which are now placed under grave suspicion by the recent report of Amnesty International.
That is not my opinion or even the opinion of Archbishop Ó Fiaich. He went on to state:
How can one explain the jump in prison population of Northern Ireland from 500 to 3,000 unless a new type of prisoner has emerged?
Will not the Minister submit to the overwhelming evidence placed before him in the statement issued by the Archbishop after his visit to prisoners in Long Kesh on 30 July? He did not see the Unionist or Loyalist prisoners, though he asked and was refused. We are talking solely about Republican prisoners at this time. The authorities in the prison would not let him see the others. I have quoted extracts from his statement which touch on the fringe of the sad conditions in Long Kesh at present.
We have from the prisoners' relatives the following litany which I want to put on the record of this House, if for no other reason than to try to imprint on the minds of people inside and outside this House the absolutely unbelievable conditions which have been obtaining in Long Kesh for over two years; this is the third year of such conditions for the blanket brigade. The following is a list of what prisoners' relatives consider to be forms of maltreatment:
1. Forcible bathing of prisoners and scrubbing them down with scrubbing brushes.
2. Intimate and internal searching of prisoners going to and from visits.
3. Banging loudly on cell doors throughout the night.
No doubt this is done by prison staff.
4. Continuous use of electric light in cells thus affecting prisoners' eyesight.
5. The removal of their last remaining human possessions within the past few weeks, i.e., combs and toothbrushes.
6. The withholding of some monthly letters written to prisoners.
7. Inadequate food quantity (prisoners are, quite visibly, losing weight).
This has been said by prisoners' relatives, although they have not been seeing the prisoners in recent times, as the Minister is well aware.
8. Leaving prisoners' food on the floor inside cell doors like one would feed a dog.
9. Hosing down the cells, leaving naked prisoners to lie on wet mattresses.
10. Removing prisoners to the punishment cell for three day periods on the slightest pretext.
11. Withholding of all means of mental stimulation, including religious magazines, from the prisoners.