Vol. 412 No. 3
9 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will give details of the explanation he has received from the Northern Ireland Office for the presence of an army patrol in direct contact with the community and without a police presence at 10.30 a.m. at Thomas Street, Dungannon on 12 August 1991; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
114 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will give details of the explanation he has received from the Northern Ireland Office for the presence of a UDR patrol in direct contact with the community and without a police presence at 9.05 p.m. on 18 July 1991 at the Armagh-Newtownhamilton Road, two miles from Armagh; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 114 together. Upon receipt of the Deputy's questions, I instructed my officials to raise the matters complained of through the Anglo-Irish Secretariat and to ask that they be investigated.
The British response reaffirmed their commitment to the principle of accompaniment and pointed to progress which has been achieved in increasing actual levels of accompaniment in certain areas. However, they indicated also that a number of practical, logistical or resource constraints made it impossible to guarantee a continuous police accompaniment in all areas. They stated they were no longer willing to ask the RUC to investigate specific reports of unaccompanied patrols unless there was also a complaint of misbehaviour of the patrol in question or the patrol was alleged to be operating in an area where it should not be.
The Irish Government attach very great importance to the commitment given at the highest level in the Hillsborough Communique, and on many other occasions subsequently, to ensure:
as rapidly as possible that save in the most exceptional circumstances there is a police presence in all operations which involve direct contact with the community.
We consider that, consistent with the high priority attached to the principle of accompaniment by both parties to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, all necessary steps should be taken in terms of the resources and organisational measures required to implement it. We consider also that, where a specific instance of an unaccompanied patrol is reported, it is appropriate to inquire into the exceptional circumstances which justified that particular departure from the agreed principle.
I have made clear therefore to the Secretary of State that I do not regard the present position as satisfactory, and that the Irish Government hold firmly to the objective of ensuring that the principle of accompaniment is seen to be implemented fully in line with the commitments which have been made. I will continue to press for this through the Conference and Secretariat and will continue to raise through these channels all instances of unaccompanied patrols which are reported to me, with a view to establishing whether the case complained of was a departure from the agreed principles and, if so, the circumstances which gave rise to it.
Before leaving this issue, let me also take the opportunity to put on record my utter condemnation of the attack which occurred near Bellaghy last night. This and all other such attacks can achieve nothing other than the wanton loss of human life, and increased legacies of division and human suffering. They underline for all of us the importance of ensuring that those who resort to such methods do not succeed.
I do, of course, join in the expression of condemnation and I agree with the Minister's sentiments on the horrendous attack in Bellaghy last night and in relation to all other attacks and murders on all sides that have taken place in the North. Would the Minister agree — and from what he said here it appears he agrees — that the reply he has received in response to my inquiry is entirely unsatisfactory and that there would appear to be something added to the original commitment in the Hillsborough Commique that there would be accompaniment save in the most exceptional circumstances I now notice a reference to practical and logistical. This is the first time I have heard these words in this connection. When following up this matter will be Minister inquire about the practical, logistical or most exceptional circumstances that arose where unaccompanied military personnel were in direct contact with the public at 10.30 a.m. on a July morning in one of the main streets of a country town where there was no security flap or threat to the military? What could justify that situation? In view of the fact that this is one of many cases that I have brought to the Minister's attention since I was elected to this House, will he agree that it would appear that in certain areas of Northern Ireland there is no real desire to or intention of implementing this policy?
I share the concern that Deputy Currie has expressed today. Deputy Currie knows that in the past I have expressed my concern about this. I have full regard to the solemn assurances given in the Hillsborough Communique and I quote directly from the communique in my reply. To me it means that a solemn commitment given at the highest possible political level is not now being regarded in the same light as it was intended that it should have been. It is an important issue. I said to Deputy Currie in my reply that it is an issue I propose to continue to keep on the agenda and to return to on every occasion. Suggestions have been made that logistical restraints at times make it impossible, I am advised in regard to non-compliance with the assurances given at the time of Hillsborough, that RUC manpower may not be available. It is not for me to give details of the availability or not of manpower of the RUC: but Deputy Currie has mentioned a political incident at a time when there was not any emergency security flap on, at a time when seemingly patrols could be planned for in sufficient time to allow RUC personnel to be involved in the security effort of the time. It is a serious matter. We have had the matter before us at conference meetings on several occasions. I must say that it is a matter of concern to me and a matter of concern to the Government.
I wish to say how glad I am to find that the Minister and I appear to be at one on this particular issue. I now suggest to him that, if it would help himself and his officials, he could say in relation to this particular incident and all of the other incidents which over the past two years or so I have brought to his attention that this is not a matter of hearsay, this is a matter of me personally observing these patrols without a police presence and me actually being stopped and questioned by the military without the presence of the RUC under circumstances in which the RUC was not present, in which no emergency existed and in which later, in the great majority of cases, I made additional inquiries to make sure that that was the case — that there was no justification within the terms of the communique for the absence of the police. I hope that that will help to strengthen the argument the Minister puts to the British authorities.
Very briefly in reply, a Cheann Comhairle, because again I think the House would be ad idem on this approach, I wish to point out that there were solemn guarantees given for the gravest reasons at a particular time and we have to see to it that the agreement that was reached be implemented.
