Deputy Peter Barry gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of the postponement of the inquest into the killings in Gibraltar. Our time is limited. I suggest the Deputy has eight minutes and the Minister has four minutes to reply. Is that satisfactory?
Adjournment Debate. - Gibraltar Shootings Inquest.
Yes. I will be able to put my point of view and I hope it will be accepted by the Minister in the time allotted to me.
I put down a Private Notice Question yesterday asking the Government if they would take up with the British Government the damage that would be done by the postponement of the inquest into the shootings that took place in Gibraltar in early March of this year. You, Sir, ruled that Private Notice Question out of order because of the rules governing Private Notice Questions, so I asked for permission to raise it on the Adjournment because the next opportunity I would have of raising it at Question Time would be 21 June which is the next time the Minister for Foreign Affairs is due to answer questions here. The inquest was due to take place on 27 June, so that would be right up against the deadline. I am grateful to you for the permission you have given me to speak here tonight.
I do not want to go back over the facts regarding the incident in Gibraltar last March when three people lost their lives. However, I wish to state clearly and bluntly that they were members of an organisation which has done more harm to democracy and been the cause of more deaths on this island than any other organisation. Almost 3,000 lives have been lost over the last 20 years and the Provisional IRA were responsible for well over two-thirds of them. The three people shot in Gibraltar in March were members of that organisation and were there on what was termed an operation by the Provisional IRA. We have seen the effects of their operations in the past in Brighton, Harrods in London and Enniskillen, where countless innocent people lost their lives. I have no doubt that if this operation had taken place the same would have occurred in Gibraltar if the bomb had been placed. This organisation have no compunction about taking innocent lives in all parts of the world. Indeed, last Sunday morning they made young people stand outside a church in Belfast with placards around their necks saying that they were car thieves. The idea of justice, as far as the IRA were concerned, was to make these misguided young people parade in front of the church because they had been joyriding in stolen cars.
This House has no sympathy for the Provisional IRA. All democratic Governments over the last 20 years have condemned their acts and have clearly condemned their means of achieving their goals. When this incident occurred in March, I said that, even though these people were acknowledged members of the IRA and even though they were there with the intention of committing a most heinous crime, which would probably have taken many lives, we do not expect the security forces of a democratic, law abiding State to descend to the same level. I said, and I repeat, that those people should have been apprehended, brought to trial and charged with the crime of attempted murder, attempted bombing or whatever was appropriate.
Television programmes which have been shown since the incident make it clear that the three people could have been attempting to surrender when they were repeatedly shot and killed. The SAS are one of the most highly trained bodies in the world and they are well capable of disarming people by shooting without killing them. I also said at the time that the people who were responsible for the deaths should be brought before a court and tried.
The coroner in Gibraltar said, a few days after the shooting occurred, that the most probable date for the inquest would be the month of June. However, this inquest has now been postponed for transparent and spurious reasons. The excuse is that an important festival of music, drama and the arts is to take place on the day of the inquest was to have been held. That would have been known many months ago and the excuse that the two events would stretch the security forces does not hold water because it would have been possible to fly in planeloads of policemen from Britain to supplement the security forces on Gibraltar.
A suspicion must arise that the inquest is being postponed in the hope that it will be held when this House and the House of Commons are not sitting. Indeed, there is as much concern in Britain about what happened in March as there is in this country. If the House of Commons is not sitting, the Government will not be subject to public scrutiny in this matter. The hope may be that, given time, public interest in this matter will wane. Perhaps the hope also is that the searchlight of public opinion will be switched off the incident and that there may be a verdict of shooting in the interest of the State, or something of that nature.
It is disturbing that at the same time the postponement of the inquest is announced some British newspapers this morning announced that the Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1890, updated in 1965 and 1967, may mean that the people responsible for the shooting in Gibraltar might not necessarily be brought to trial.
Will the Deputy now bring his remarks to a close?
I strongly appeal to the Minister to use the machinery of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and Maryfield to bring home to the British Government the importance of having all the facts in relation to the shooting in Gibraltar made public as soon as possible. Those responsible for the shootings should be brought before a civil court as——
I must now call on the Minister to reply.
It is extremely important, if we are to have confidence in the administration of justice, that the facts should be brought quickly, openly and fairly before the courts as soon as possible.
It may be useful to recall the events which gave rise to the matter the Deputy wishes to raise on the Adjournment tonight. Mairéad Farrell, Danny McCann and Seán Savage were shot in Gibraltar on 6 March last. It emerged shortly after the shootings that these three people were not armed and that the vehicle in which it was suggested they had planted a bomb did not in fact contain explosives. The IRA did say, however, in a public statement that the three were IRA volunteers who were in Gibraltar on active service.
The Taoiseach stated to the House on 8 March that the Government condemned all forms of violence and recognised the necessity for security forces to take all reasonable measures to combat terrorism. The Taoiseach went on to say that the Government were gravely perturbed at the shooting dead of these people in circumstances where it appeared from the reports that they could have been arrested by the security forces involved.
The Taoiseach also told the House on 16 March in reply to a parliamentary question tabled by the Deputy that the next important step would be the holding of the inquest and that he did not wish to comment further until the inquest was held.
The Government made it clear subsequently in their statement of 29 April that they expected that the fullest possible information would be provided at the inquest and that, if it should prove necessary thereafter, any further inquiry or legal action which might be needed to uphold the rule of law, without fear or favour, would be instituted.
As the Deputy will know from the Taoiseach's reply to a Parliamentary question he tabled for 17 May, there have been contacts with the British authorities on this whole question in the Anglo-Irish Conference, in the Conference Secretariat and through the diplomatic channel.
It will be seen clearly, and accepted by Deputies from the statements already made, that there has been a pattern of active Government concern about this matter since the news of the Gibraltar shootings first broke.
I appreciate the concern expressed by the Deputy about the reported postponement of the inquest. I understand, however, that the timing of the inquest is a matter for the coroner of Gibraltar and I do not think it would be useful to protest to the British Government immediately about any decision by the coroner on timing. It is right and important that the British Government should be aware of the Government's concern that the inquest should be held as soon as possible and that the fullest possible information should be provided to it. I can assure the Deputy that that concern, which I know is shared by him and by all Members of the House, has been conveyed to the British Government and that they are fully aware of it. Information has been sought on the new timing proposed for the inquest.
The Dáil adjourned at 11 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 26 May 1988.