Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 23 Mar 1993

Vol. 428 No. 1

Warrington Tragedy: Statements.

The Taoiseach

With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I should like to make a brief statement to the House in relation to the tragedy that occurred in Warrington. With your permission also, perhaps other party leaders might be allow a few minutes in which to express their condolences.

I know that the House will join me in expressing grief and anger at the shocking act of IRA violence which took place in Warrington last Saturday. A peaceful shopping precinct thronged with parents and their children was turned into a scene of utter carnage by an act of premeditated evil.

I extend the deep condolences and sympathy of the Government and people of Ireland to the parents of young Jonathan Ball, a three-year-old child who lost his life in the bomb attack, and to all of those who were injured in this act of savagery. The Government was prepared to be represented at the funeral, but the wishes of the family for privacy must be paramount. I extend our support and best wishes to those who now lie grievously injured in hospital, fighting for their lives, and to their families.

This bombing, whose victims were the young and defenceless, is the latest outrage in the long series of cruel and cowardly acts perpetrated by the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland and further afield. Their expressions of regret at Saturday's bombing are rightly viewed with contempt and incredulity by all reasonable people in Ireland, North and South, and in Britain.

The IRA's campaign of violence has served not only to increase human suffering, but has deepened divisions within Ireland. It is long past time for it to be brought to an end. The events at Warrington and other attacks in Britain show a cynical disregard for their effect on relations with the Irish community there. I know that the Irish community in Warrington and throughout Britain have made it clear that they share the revulsion of their British neighbours at this horrible act. I am confident that responsible British opinion is well aware of that fact.

The bomb attack in Warrington and its perpetrator stand condemned by the Government and by the people of Ireland. I am sure that the House will join me in expressing the sense of outrage we feel at this callous and brutal act, and in conveying our deepest sympathy to the families most closely affected and to all the people of Warrington. It must strengthen our determination to pursue the early resumption of political dialogue and the establishment of peace.

Mr. J. Bruton

I join the Taoiseach in expressing sympathy on behalf of my party to the family of Jonathan Ball and to all who suffered as a result of the awful outrage in Warrington. It is important also that the House give expression to its feeling of sympathy with all the British people, who now, as a result of the activities of the Provisional IRA, feel vulnerable as they go about their normal daily business. We should indicate that we share with the people of Britain an urgent anxiety that the people responsible for these kinds of activities are brought promptly to justice and that if those people attempt to seek refuge in this island from justice in Britain for their activities they will be sent as quickly as possible back to Britain to face justice. We should make it clear that any deficiencies that may exist in our extradition law will be rapidly put right in order that that can be given full effect. We should make it clear that there should be no hiding place anywhere in the civilised world for people who are willing to commit atrocities of that kind.

I believe that it is also worth recalling that the political supporters of those who planted the bomb in Warrington achieved less than 1 per cent of popular elective support in the most recent general election in this State. There is no support in this State for those people, their cause or their methods. I believe that it is very important that all parties in this House should be seen — as we are, I believe, as a result of the Taoiseach's initiative in allowing these statements — to stand together in sympathy and in fellow feeling with those who have lost their loved ones, those who have been injured, the people of Warrington in particular and the people of Britain in general, in this awful experience that they have undergone.

Mr. M. McDowell

I wish to associate myself with the remarks made by the Taoiseach and by Deputy Bruton. The Progressive Democrats and I regard the excuses tendered in the wake of this appalling crime as being devoid of any substance whatsoever. Terrorism is designed to instil terror, because it is based on the fact that people fear that they will be killed. Those who engage in terrorist activities, North and South in this country and abroad, all do so on the basis that they put the lives of innocent people at risk. That is what terrorism is all about. Apologies afterwards are no good, and the Irish people speak with one voice in condemning and repudiating the apology tendered as adding insult to a terrible injury done to innocent people in Warrington.

On behalf of the Progressive Democrats, I wish to add that I am in total agreement with the statement made by Deputy Bruton that in terms of expressions of sympathy and solidarity we can go so far as must unite behind the politics of progress and peace in Northern Ireland. Most of all, we in this country must as far as we possibly can show that every sinew is stretched to the task of preventing people from doing things of that kind and using this country as a base from which to plan operations, assemble bombs and make statements afterwards.

I support Deputy Bruton's remarks. The most fitting tribute which this House could pay in the circumstances is to indicate that all the existing deficiencies in our extradition laws which are being availed of and which cause problems at the moment will be immediately remedied. By doing so this House will demonstrate to the people in Britain, particularly to the Irish people living there, a sense of solidarity and commitment that this kind of appalling atrocity will not prevail and that terrorising innocent people at their workplace and when they are involved in leisure activities cannot be allowed to succeed.

Proinsias De Rossa

I welcome the opportunity which the Taoiseach has given us to express our views on this latest savagery by the Provisional IRA. We hear daily on the news that a man or woman in Northern Ireland has been killed by a Loyalist or Nationalist gang and to some extent we react within ourselves. However, perhaps we tend to become complacent about it and the constant killing in Northern Ireland helps to diminish our humanity because of our failure or feelings of helplessness in regard to doing anything about it.

But every now and then the Provisionals carry out a killing that sparks a degree of revulsion which generates a response from ordinary people to which we must respond. I am not sure why this happens every now and then. Perhaps the fact that a three year old child — innocent in every respect, totally dependent on and trusting every adult around him — was killed by adults who coldly and calculatedly laid a bomb outside McDonalds restaurant, a bomb which was bound to maim or kill young people, is the reason for the non-comprehension of most people. That is why Members, and people outside the House, feel such disgust, annoyance and anger at what the Provisionals have done. However, it is a mistake to believe that we are helpless. As politicians we have a role to play in trying to ensure that Members, North, South and in Britain, talk to each other to try to find a political solution.

Ordinary people also have a role to play. The Provisionals cannot exist without safe houses, dumps and money. Much as we would like to deny it, unfortunately there are elements in Irish society who continually provide safe houses, dumps and money for the Provisionals. We must ask why that continues to be the case. I do not have any wish to make a divisive or party political point in this debate, because we are speaking primarily in relation to conveying our sympathy to the family of the young boy who was killed and to the other families whose children or relatives have been maimed by the bombs and who will suffer this nightmare for the rest of their lives. Even if those who carried out the appalling atrocity are arrested, charged and go to prison for a long time, they will come out more or less intact. Even people who were not injured physically will be psychologically affected for the rest of their lives.

As politicians we have a responsibility to try to break away from the traditional responses in relation to Northern Ireland and Irish unity, the constant shibboleths which are trotted out about a united Ireland, Articles 2 and 3 and regarding some people in Northern Ireland as outsiders. If we are serious about ending the appalling tragedy of Northern Ireland we must try to stop bending the knee to what are regarded as untouchable truths. That is one of the most important things we in this House can do for the public who are appalled by the savagery over the weekend. Unfortunately, it is almost inevitable that it will happen again and we must be seen to take steps to end it and seriously address the issues. We must try to break free of the traditions in which we were reared. Of course, that does not apply solely to us; but we must not wait for others to step forward, we must do so.

Deputy Sargent rose.

An Ceann Comhairle

I hesitate to disallow the Deputy to speak, without precedent.

Mr. Sargent

On behalf of the Green Party — Comhaontas Glas — I share the sentiments expressed by former speakers and welcome the Government's lead in identifying with the bereaved people in Warrington. I urge that all steps which can be taken in this country be taken to apprehend the perpetrators of the savage attack in Warrington and other attacks in Britain and this country.

Will the perpetrators of this crime, and those identified with them, state what kind of society they wish to create for people living in these islands? The killing of a three year old child and the maiming of many others is a tragedy. Today the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children held a forum for TDs — ironically to ask for our support in ending physical violence against children, — which is a poignant reminder of the extremes to which adults will go to achieve selfish ends.

We must look at short term solutions to the type of violence which occurred over the last few days, but we must also plan for the long term. In the short term obviously, we must, reject all violence and condemn those who support it. We must also show that courage, peace and self-sacrifice defeat selfishness and violence. In the long term we must demonstrate to young and old that violence in the home or in the high street will not resolve any problems.