The interception by the French customs authorities of the coaster Eksund, the discovery on board of a huge cache of arms and the fact that the crew consisted of Irish persons has naturally been the cause of particular interest and concern to all Members of this House.
Eksund Arms Find: Statement
Order.
It is appropriate that I should give the House as much information on this matter as I can at this stage. I intend to confine myself to the facts which have been established. The discovery of what this coaster contained and the personnel on board have been the cause of a great deal of comment and speculation. I do not propose to add to that by getting into the realm of theories and possibilities. I am giving the facts as I have them.
In the early hours of Saturday, 31 October, off the French Atlantic coast, a small coaster was apprehended by the French customs authorities who had been keeping the vessel under surveillance for some time. The vessel had set out on this voyage from Malta. Whether it stopped en route between there and where it was intercepted and, if so, where are matters which have yet to be confirmed. The vessel was taken to the French harbour of Brest and the five-member crew was arrested. The ship contained a very large quantity of armaments estimated to weigh something between 100 and 150 tonnes. The value of the cargo has been estimated at between £15 million and £20 million, but a more exact evaluation cannot be put on it until the amount and condition of all the types of armaments have been fully assessed. I have not a complete inventory of all that the vessel contained but notification has been received by the Garda Síochána that the cargo included the following: at least 20 SAM 7 surface-to-air missiles, approximately 1,000 AK 47 Kalashnikov rifles, at least 600 Soviet F1 grenades, approximately 10 Soviet 12.77mm heavy machine guns with anti-aircraft gun mounts, a quantity, not yet known, of anti-tank recoilless rifles and ammunition for them, Beretta M 12 9mm Belgian machine guns, quantity unknown, approximately two tons of Semtex explosives with detonators and fuses, a quantity not yet known of RPG 7 tubes and ammunition — these are rocket-propelled grenades, an unknown quantity of mortars and 50 tons of ammunition.
The vessel was manned by a five-man crew who are all either Irish citizens or who have strong Irish connections. All were carrying Irish passports, two of which were found to be part of a number of passports stolen in 1984 from the Department of Foreign Affairs. The persons carrying these passports were using assumed names but their true identities are now known to the Garda. The five men involved have now been conveyed by the Fench police authorities from Brest to Paris where they have been charged. Given that all the crew were Irish or have Irish connections, or given that there are grounds to suspect that some at least of them may have Irish connections, there exists a very strong possibility that some of the armaments, if not all, were destined for landing here. Accordingly, the Garda Síochána have been in constant touch with the French police since this vessel was apprehended. A Garda assistant commissioner accompanied by another officer is now in France to liaise with their French counterparts and obtain all information relevant to the Irish dimension of this matter as the investigation develops.
These are the essential facts. I acknowledge that there are many gaps to be filled and questions to be answered but I am not in a position to give a more detailed answer at this stage. I do not intend to be drawn into the realm of speculation but if developments occur which would make it appropriate for me to make a further statement to the House I am prepared to make one.
The only other thing I wish to do is to express my thanks and congratulations and those of the Government to the French authorities for their most effective and commendable action in this matter which has prevented such a vast quantity of deadly weapons from falling into the hands of those who seek to subvert lawful authority and impose their will by terrorist tactics and the force of arms.
I am grateful to the Minister, as is the House, for setting out this matter as he has done. I appreciate the Minister's desire to stick to the known facts but there are one or two other aspects to this case to which the House should give some attention. This is a most appalling affair. To my knowledge, it is the largest consignment of arms that has ever been apprehended in circumstances of this kind. There have been previous cases of consignments of arms being intercepted on their way here but none has ever been as big as this. The list the Minister has given of the types of arms covers the widest range of arms ever found in a shipment intercepted apparently on its way to this country. The nationality of the crew is of extreme significance to us particularly as there must be a very strong suspicion that at least a part of this shipment was destined for use on this island. There is nothing to suggest, even remotely, that this was anything other than an illegal arms shipment. No Government has indicated that they were a customer for these and no legitimate buyer has indicated that he was a customer for these arms. It is clear this shipment is part of a substantial activity in illegal international arms dealing.
Although this is in the realm of speculation, there is a suggestion that this may have been the second vessel in a convoy and that there is perhaps another one that escaped the net. The vessel is reported to have left Malta on 12 October and to have taken two weeks to pass the Straits of Gibraltar, a voyage that would normally take it half that time. It is alleged that the vessel left Malta empty and there is a strong suspicion that somewhere between Malta and the Straits of Gibraltar this vessel took aboard the cargo that it has. That is a matter of extreme concern to us because in that region of the world there are people who have indicated their support for, or at least their benevolence towards, the Provisional IRA.
When we look at the size of the consignment from somewhere between 100 and 150 tonnes of armaments valued at about £20 million, it is abundantly clear that there must have been a substantial amount of outside financing to allow that quantity of arms to be assembled and sent to this island. What we are facing here appears not only to be another very serious incident of potential arms subversion in this country but an even more serious case of apparent outside assistance to arms subversion of that kind. That is an aspect of this case which we must insist is fully and comprehensively investigated.
None of us can be anything but alarmed at the indications that surround this case. As the Minister said, we owe a great debt of gratitude to the French authorities for their vigilance and rapid action in this matter. God knows how many thousands of lives have been saved by the actions of the French authorities in this matter. Not only must the Garda authorities here cooperate fully with the French authorities in getting to the bottom of this affair, but I would also ask the Government to call on the French authorities to allow the Garda authorities the maximum access to this case so that the Garda will be in a position to follow up any links there may be between this arms seizure and the activities of subversives in this country. It would appear that the ramifications of this seizure for life and for death in this country may be very far-reaching.
There is no doubt that the whole business of illegal dealing in arms internationally is one which must concern us very intimately. We have seen far too many people on this island killed and maimed because there are people who believe they can make their arguments through the barrel of a gun. It is absolutley unacceptable that there should be any assistance for people of that kind. Anybody who feels the slightest ambivalence or the slightest goodwill towards people who profess a belief in the efficiency of armed conflict on this island should look again at the list of armaments the Minister has given us — surface to air missiles, grenades, rocket propelled grenades, automatic rifles, heavy machine guns and God knows how many tonnes of ammunition. It is incredible that anybody could feel for a moment that allowing all of those munitions to be unleashed in any part of this island could do any good. This House should clearly state that it will not tolerate activities of that kind.
As I have said, this is very clearly part of a substantial international trade in illegal arms. It is part and parcel of international terrorism. The size of the cargo and the death that could be dealt out by it must serve once again to underline for us the simple stark fact that we must play our part to the utmost of our abilities in any action undertaken for the suppression of international terrorism.
First, I compliment and thank the French authorities for detecting this cargo and preventing its importation to this country. As other Deputies have said, their successful efforts have obviously saved the lives of hundreds and perhaps thousands of people both on this island and elsewhere. All of us who are interested in having peace in this country and in suppressing terrorism cannot but thank and compliment the French authorities and we should not be shy about saying that.
It is unsatisfactory at this stage to discuss a matter about which we do not have much information and that is regrettable. Since this matter arose last Saturday it appears to be easier to get information from the British media, radio and television than it is from our own services. I do not know why that is the case. However, a number of matters have come to light, particularly in the last number of days and they are more than just suspicions. It has been stated in many of the media reports, in yesterday's and today's papers both in Britain and in Ireland, that while this ship left Malta without any arms on board, somewhere on route it was able to pick up a supply of arms. It is stated in today's papers that the French authorities believe that this cargo was loaded on 14 October last in Tripoli and that it was, as it were, personally approved by Mr. Gadaffi. It is time that once and for all we stopped the double standards and double think when it comes to these matters.
Last year 3,500 tonnes of beef or 1 per cent of our beef exports were exported to Libya. It is also the case that 46,000 or 14 per cent of our live cattle were exported to that country. Our trade to Libya is worth £30 million and imports from that country are worth £500,000 but unfortunately the balance comes by way of support for organisations that want to subvert this State and want to kill and maim Irish people.
Last Tuesday evening I watched on Today Tonight a recording of a programme shown last year in which Mr. Gadaffi clearly outlined his support and indeed his admiration for the Provisional IRA. If that is the kind of behaviour of a country such as that, Ireland should not have friendly relations or diplomatic relations with that country, as we have; our Ambassador to Rome is accredited there. I understand that a Government Minister is shortly to visit that country. We must stop the double standards and the double think when it comes to these matters. We are great at talking about sanctions in relation to South Africa because perhaps it does not affect us very much but we are very slow to act when it affects ourselves. If it transpires that these arms came from Libya, this country should no longer have diplomatic relations with that country and the Government or any Minister of the Government should not go on friendly visits to that country, be they in relation to trade or whatever.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
In relation to the Provisional IRA, last weekend the political elite of that organisation, the people who sit back in their armchairs and send out young men and women to commit atrocities in the name of some phoney ideals, were given the Mansion House in this city in which to hold their annual árdfheis. I was interested to see one of the headlines from that árd-fheis which said that Sinn Féin believe we should renege on our foreign debt. I thought to myself as I heard that statement that if they were not involved in so much subversion and so much terror on this island perhaps our foreign debt would not be anything like it is. This organisation has to be taken on once and for all. It is not right that Irish people, no matter what the situation may be at local level, can justify support for an organisation whose main aim is to subvert this country and to kill and maim fellow Irish people. It is not right that the house of the first citizen of this city, the Mansion House on Dawson Street, should be given year in year out to this organisation as if it was just another group or another organisation. We must take a stand on this matter because we want to do everything we can to try to stop Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA, from getting support and helping their campaign of maiming and killing fellow Irish people.
We also need to bring in changes in our own legislation. We need to make it an extraterritorial offence for any person anywhere in the world to assist, conspire or attempt to import arms into any part of Ireland, North or South, or to be in any way involved in their movement or possession with a view to their use in this country. We need to get our own laws in order. During the last few days I have heard a number of Deputies say that they do not seem to approve of extradition. Many of them do not seem to know what our extradition laws are at present. I do not think anybody in this House is being responsible when he or she stands over not extraditing those who are wanted in connection with serious crime. If we want to stop crime on this island and elsewhere we cannot be ambivalent when it comes to these matters.
I would like to be associated with the remarks of the other Deputies who have spoken and who have professed a sense of profound relief that this massive shipment of arms has been intercepted and that we have been spared the appalling carnage and massacres that would undoubtedly have flowed from the use of these armaments. The magnitude of the shipment is such that, clearly, all of it was not intended for use in this country. Major parts of this consignment would have been used by the international arms dealing operations from which subversive and terrorists groups in other troubled spots in the world are supplied. Quite clearly the IRA are involved and the massive amount of money and organisation that was involved clearly illustrate that.
Reference has been made by Deputy Dukes to the international trade in arms. What he said is very true but we have to draw a distinction between two kinds of situations. On the one hand there are these well known evil men who are arms dealers on a grand scale and they have their companies and their cover and their fronts to do this. That is one situation that has to be met with through international circles.
However, there is another category when Governments that stride across the international scene at the United Nations and Security Council are themselves part and parcel of this reign of terror and these arms supply dealings. That is a different situation altogether. Let us be clear about this. We know full well — the Minister is reticent about coming out with it and I regret that — and it is clear from their reports — and we may as well call a spade a spade here — that this ship was loaded in Tripoli, Libya by Libyan soldiers with the imprimatur and in accordance with the stated policy of Colonel Gadaffi, the leader of the Libyan State. He has made no secret of that; he has indicated quite clearly in statements that that is his policy and that he intends to do that. Yet, this is a country with which we have diplomatic relations, whose ambassador strides the international scene and makes speeches in the United Nations.
The response we are seeing here so far from the Minister and the Government is just not good enough. We must call into question, and do it quickly, the whole matter of our diplomatic situation with Libya. I have not heard the Minister say he is considering lodging a formal protest with Libya or with the United Nations as to what has transpired here, at this deliberate attempt to wreak death and destruction and injury on citizens of this island.
And of the UK.
And of the UK and of other places in the Gulf and wherever these armaments would be distributed. I am asking the Minister and the Government to tell the House now, or soon, what diplomatic activity is proposed on the international scene. Will this matter be raised in the United Nations? Will this matter be raised in the Security Council calling to task and calling to account in a public, international way the policy of calculated interference, of death and injury, against citizens of this island?
I want to say a word about the origins of these weapons. These weapons are, by the description given by the Minister for Justice in his outlining statement, Soviet weaponry almost in their entirety if not in their entirety. That is a matter that also requires to be looked at. We have diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union; that is a very important thing and a very good thing and we value diplomatic relations with friendly countries. But, at the same time, when a cache of these dimensions of weapons emanating from the Soviet Union finds itself as a threat to life and limb in this country, then it is a matter for calling in the Soviet ambassador and making representations to the Soviet Union about the origin of these weapons and how such a massive consignment of weapons manufactured in that country became a serious threat to people of this country. That is a question that has to be raised and I have not heard the Minister give any indication of his intentions in this matter. We are dealing here with a country that strides across the international scene. Many of these weapons can, no doubt, be bought or acquired through the private dealers and agents who deal with these matters but this is a different league, this is of a different dimension altogether.
What the country expects now is intense diplomatic activity with a country with which we trade. I regret we may lose trade with that country. That would be unfortunate but if we are to trade with such a country and receive their money, all I can say is it is blood money. That is the situation and this thing has to be stopped, and stopped at source. There is an old saying in law that if there were no receivers there would be no thieves. To put that into an analogy with the situation here, I would say that if there were no countries supplying arms to terrorists and subversives on this scale then the bombs, the killings, the threats, intimidations and so on that go on in our country would be avoided, or at least very much reduced.
I would like to know from the Minister what intelligence reports have been received on this whole issue. Has the Minister been fully frank with us on it? Will we hear further statements as to what information has been furnished to the Government by Assistant Commissioner Crowley who has been in France investigating the matter for some days past? I would remind the House that this is the second occasion on which the IRA have been thwarted in their efforts to obtain surface-to-air missiles. Deputies will recall that the House passed emergency legislation to freeze certain bank funds to ensure that such moneys would not be used. This is not the end of the story. There will be further efforts, there will be further attempts. We must ensure that all resources are provided to our own naval personnel, the Garda Síochána and our own security forces to ensure that these instruments of death are kept from our shore. In the meantime I beseech the Minister for Justice and the Government to take the necessary steps, with determination and force, with the Libyan Government at the highest possible level and on the international scene as necessary to ensure that this interference with life and limb in this country will henceforth be avoided completely.
Whatever the destination of these arms, we must be glad they have not reached that destination because their purpose was to create furthere death and destruction. If that destination was Ireland, the huge size of the cargo must raise real concern as regards the intentions of the Provisional IRA.
There has been speculation that the intention was to attack the Maze prison. That is most unlikely. It seems much more likely that the arms were to be used for what we have always said is the main purpose of this campaign since it was first established, to start a full scale sectarian civil war in Northern Ireland. They have always relied for their support in the Catholic community on creating an atmosphere where they could be seen as the defenders of the Catholic community. In order to do that they have engaged in various sectarian killings to provoke a reaction against the Catholic community so that they could then be seen as the defenders of that community, so that the Catholic community would see the Provisionals as being necessary to defend them and protect them.
For their entire existence they have been engaged in what can only be called murderous political obscenity so that concepts such as freedom fighters, republicanism and national liberation now stink in the nostrils of democratic citizens. In the very beginning we identified them as a sectarian and racist group which incited murder and violence against fellow-Irish people and which have nothing in common with the Irish radical revolutionary political tradition. Indeed, it is fair to say that on many occasions The Workers' Party stood virtually alone on this point as, for instance, at the height of the H-Block hysteria.
The Provisionals' military campaign has dragged on for 17 years. It has now clearly reached a stalemate and the British are quite prepared to endure the present level of casualties. In this situation the only hope is to provoke a full scale sectarian conflict. That is why I believe that if these arms had reached this country we would have seen a spate of particularly vicious attacks, even massacres, on the Protestant community in the North. This would have lead to a sectarian backlash against Catholics and then the cargo of the Eksund would really have been brought into vicious play in the matter of sectarian civil war.
There is an obligation on the Irish Government to make exhaustive inquiries as to the exact source of these weapons. It has been assumed in various newspaper articles that they came from Libya. We know the reliability one can place on newspaper articles, creating guilt before judgment has been made. It may be the case that they have come from Libya but we should not rush to judgment on the issue. However, if the evidence does show that these arms were supplied by Libya, then the strongest possible protest must be made to Colonel Gadaffi. He has every reason to feel anger and resentment against the United States Government which bombed Tripoli in what can only be called a terrorist attack, leading to many deaths and indeed to serious injury to one of his own children.
We can also, and must, feel anger against Mrs. Thatcher who provided bases for these US bombers. However, this cannot in any way justify the supply of weapons which would have caused such suffering and death to Irish people. The Taoiseach and Colonel Gadaffi have often spoken of their special friendship. I hope that if the Libyans are in this the Taoiseach will now convey to Colonel Gadaffi that this conduct is quite unacceptable to the overwhelming majority of the Irish people and that, in supplying arms to the Provos, Libya is not taking a stand against imperialism but aiding a sectarian, fascist and evil organisation. If, as Deputy Taylor said, the ambassador of the USSR is to be brought in in regard to the supply of Soviet weapons, we should also bring in the United States ambassador because United States weapons have been used for the past 17 years in Northern Ireland.