asked the Minister for Justice if he will make a statement on the sinking of the British cargo vessel St. Bedem in Lough Foyle recently for which the provisional IRA have accepted responsibility.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sinking of British Cargo Vessel.
1.
The answer is no. While the then Minister for Justice did, in response to a Private Notice Question, make a statement about the previous sinking of a ship, the Nellie M, in Lough Foyle in February 1981, he did not comment on the outrage itself and in fact it has never been the practice for Ministers for Justice to comment on individual crimes.
The reason I wish to raise this matter by way of parliamentary question is because this is the second time it has happened in Lough Foyle. Obviously, it is a local team of IRA people who are doing it and, by some strange reasoning, their attempt seems to be to get at the British Treasury but under our Constitution the loughs of Ireland are ours and, therefore, the claim is against Donegal County Council and the State. Will the Minister make it clear to those who perpetrate such foul and stupid acts that they are injuring the poor people of this island?
I regret any act, particularly one such as referred to in the question, that does damage at home and abroad. However, I am not in a position to give any further details. If it was intended by the Deputy's supplementary question to raise the question of jurisdiction I should like to tell him that is a matter that should be put to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
There is something wrong with the security of the State when this can happen a second time. A boat came in and, in almost the same spot, it was sunk by a method that may have been a little bit more sophisticated the second time than the first. As Deputy for the area I should like to make it clear to those involved in this type of scandalous exercise—I hope I have the support of the Minister on this—that they are depriving the ordinary people of this country of money badly needed to promote jobs, build houses, pay old age pensions and deal with the underprivileged in our society. Such people are forcing the Government, and the people of County Donegal, through malicious claims to make good the loss of this boat to the owners. The Government should make that point clear and it should not be necessary for me to put down a parliamentary question. It is not good enough for the Minister to say he is against that. The Taoiseach, the Ministers for Justice and Foreign Affairs should make it abundantly clear what our position is in this regard.
Those people will get no support from me.
The Minister should be more vocal about that.