Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 1 Nov 1990

Vol. 402 No. 4

Adjournment Debate. - Birmingham Six Case.

Mr. Gregory

On Tuesday last, 30 October, I spoke to three of the Birmingham Six prisoners, Paddy Hill, Billy Power and Dick McIlkenny in Gartree Prison in England. The Minister, and the House, are already well informed of the very grave injustice perpetrated on the Birmingham Six by the British courts, the British police and the British prison authorities. The prisoners have this month completed their 16th year in prison for a crime they did not commit.

Dáil Éireann has accepted their complete innocence and the fact that they should be released. Other Deputies and I have raised their case in the past with successive Ministers for Foreign Affairs and those Ministers, including the present one, have made representations to the British authorities. Despite all this the six men are fearful that they will be forced to spend this Christmas — their 17th successive one — behind British prison bars. The prisoners to whom I spoke say that they cannot endure another year in prison; they say that the Devon and Cornwall police investigation into the West Midland Serious Crime Squad has produced the most conclusive evidence yet that they are innocent and that a police conspiracy, based on falsified police interviews, was one of the main factors which caused their original conviction.

When the Devon and Cornwall Inquiry findings were given to the British Home Secretary he took only days to refer their case to the Appeal Court. Now, with the same evidence available to the DPP, he has indicated the men will have to wait until after the final report of the Devon and Cornwall Inquiry has been completed before any decision can be reached. This would, envitably, put any decision on their release back well into 1991.

The prisoners very strongly believe that the available evidence is now so conclusive in their favour that they should be released immediately. The prisoners are adamant that it is no longer acceptable for the Irish Government to voice expressions of concern on their behalf. Expressions of concern have not helped them in the past and — they say — will not help them now. The prisoners want the Irish Government to make immediate and direct contact with the British Government to demand that they be released now and that this demand should be based on the evidence available to the British Government arising from the Devon and Cornwall police inquiry.

The prisoners also state that their defence solicitors are being impeded in their preparations for a new appeal by the Crown Prosecution Service not making available any documentation in the two months since the Home Secretary referred their case to the Appeal Court. The prisoners believe this is a clear indication that a political conspiracy against them is continuing and that attempts are being made to minimise the impact and repercussions on the British judicial establishment which their inevitable release will bring.

The prisoners expressed their very deep disappointment that the Taoiseach and the Government did not make any efforts on their behalf during Ireland's term of the European Presidency and at the fact that the Irish official delegation to the Conference on Security and Co-Operation did not assist in any way the non-Governmental organisation representing the Birmingham Six at that conference, but then afterwards hypocritically claimed that they had facilitated the Birmingham Six organisation in every way possible.

Will the Minister now tell the House the last occasion on which the Irish Government raised the Birmingham Six case with the British Government and if there are specific intentions to raise this appalling injustice in the immediate future as requested by the prisoners and as I have outlined?

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Mr. Calleary)

I believe the Government's firm position on this case reflects the broadly based, non-partisan desire of this House to have justice secured for the Birmingham Six, who, it must be remembered, will shortly have completed 16 years in prison. I should like, therefore, to commend the many Deputies who have maintained an active and continuing interest in this important case, whose support and concern have been of importance to the Government in presenting their views to the British authorities.

In a little more than a year, there have been a number of unprecedented developments in certain cases involving Irish cases in Britain, cases which date from the seventies and which have been of the deepest concern to the Government. Deputies will have shared the Government's great relief and satisfaction at the quashing of the convictions of the Guildford Four, and at the encouraging announcements, arising out of the May inquiry, made by the British Director of Public Prosecutions and the Home Secretary in relation to the Maguire family and their friends. As Deputies will be aware, the Birmingham Six case dates from the same period as the other two and shares with them many of the same disturbing features.

Before going on to the substance of the debate, I should say that the Birmingham Six case is now before the courts and this will inevitably limit the scope of my remarks.

When the Home Secretary announced on 29 August that he was referring the Birmingham Six case to the Court of Appeal, the Taoiseach, in welcoming this decision, expressed the Government's hope that, in the interest of justice, this protracted case also was at last close to a satisfactory solution. While the Home Secretary's statement made it clear that his decision was taken on the basis of a particular aspect of the case, the effect of that decision is that the whole case is now once more before the court, where it will be treated as an appeal by each of the six men. It will, therefore, be open to each of the six to raise with the Court of Appeal any matter which they consider relevant.

For the moment, the question of the timing of the appeal hearing is in the hands of the British Director of Public Prosecutions, who is, as in this country, an independent law officer. The Government will continue, however, to convey to the British authorities their wish for the earliest possible resolution of the case. In this regard, the Government's views and concerns have been most recently conveyed to the British authorities through the Anglo-Irish Inter-governmental Conference.

I regret that Deputy Gregory has decided to be polemical about the Government's activities in support of the Birmingham Six. In saying this, I do, of course, understand the frustration and impatience of men imprisoned for 16 years for crimes which, it is widely believed, they did not commit.

Deputies will be fully aware of the active role of the Government in seeking justice on behalf of the Birmingham Six. We have repeatedly and forcefully conveyed our views and concerns about this issue to the British authorities at the highest level. The Taoiseach has, for instance, raised the matter with the British Prime Minister. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has discussed the case with the Home Secretary, the Foreign Secretary and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The Minister for Justice has, likewise, raised the case with his British opposite number. We have also, when we considered it appropriate, raised the case in the international context, including at the United Nations General Assembly.

The Government have also been extremely concerned about the prison conditions of the men; in this regard, we welcomed their reclassification last year from category A to category B. On instructions, officials of the Embassy in London have been making regular visits on a structured basis to the men and have done everything possible to ensure their welfare. The embassy has also facilitated prison visits by a number of Deputies to the Six — including most recently, I am happy to say, a visit by Deputy Gregory.

To sum up, the Government have consistently conveyed to the British authorities over a period of years their serious concern about the convictions of the Birmingham Six, and their strong view that a complete review of the case was urgently required. We welcomed as an important development the referral of the case to the Court of Appeal, arising out of the Devon and Cornwall police investigation. We now fervently hope, as the Minister said in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on 26 September last, that there will be a satisfactory resolution of this case at the earliest possible date. Deputies can be assured that this strong and consistent position will be conveyed to the British authorities on a continuing basis.