Deputy Peter Barry has given notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of the circumstances surrounding the shooting and loss of life in Loughgall on Friday last.
Adjournment Debate. - Shooting in Loughgall (County Armagh).
The men who died in Loughgall last Friday night were members of an organisation which is the greatest enemy of Irish nationalism, an organisation that has robbed, plundered and murdered indiscriminately for 18 years and which has sought to divide the people of the North and, indeed, the people of this whole island. Only a fortnight ago they murdered a judge of the Northern Ireland court and his wife, two people who were innocently driving home from this part of the country. I did not agree with many of the judgments of Judge Gibson but the idea that that gives me the right to wipe him out could only be conceived by members of the Provisional IRA. They have adopted precisely the same tactics with people they call informers in their own organisation. They act as prosecuter, judge, jury and ultimately executioner of these people in the name of the Irish people but without a mandate. That was clearly demonstrated in the election here only three months ago and it has been demonstrated clearly in elections for a long time now. They have no right to speak or act on our behalf or on behalf of the Northern Nationalists.
The people with the right to speak for nationalism on this island are the elected representatives of this House and the elected representatives of Northern Ireland who came together to draw up the Forum report out of which came the Anglo-Irish Agreement which now gives the right to a Minister of this Government to raise matters in relation to security and other matters of that type through the Anglo-Irish Conference. They are the legitimate voice of Irish nationalism, and not the Provisional IRA.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement set out as one of its objectives to improve the relationship between the two communities in the North and between North and South and to bring an end to violence. All of this is anathema to the Provisional IRA. They do not want to achieve any of those aims and their purpose is to destroy the democratic institutions of this State and of the North of Ireland and to continue to drive a wedge between the two traditions here. That is something which the Forum report and every Member of this House will abhor. The Anglo-Irish Agreement seeks to achieve trust between the two communities in the North of Ireland and that trust can only be built when the minority community see themselves as having equal rights with the majority community in the North. The Anglo-Irish Agreement gives them that stature and through its operation looks after their interests. Part of that trust must be the relationship with the security forces. One of the objectives of the agreement is to improve the relationship of the security forces with the community. That trust had been growing since Portadown in 1985 and particularly in the past 18 months to the extent that I felt I could say to Nationalists in Northern Ireland at the end of last year that I thought it was time for them to consider joining the RUC.
It is an extremely important part of building a democracy that the minority and the majority see the security forces as being there for their protection. The security forces in the North have had an extremely difficult job in the past 18 years. Nobody could deny that. It is essential that they too must work to attain and maintain the confidence of the minority and not just of the majority. The minority must see them as their security force as well as the security force of the majority, because the people who will defeat the IRA in the North of Ireland are the minority Nationalist community who do not want violence. They are the people who will benefit most from the defeat of the IRA in that they will be able to live their lives in peace as equal citizens, which again is something that the Anglo-Irish Agreement seeks to do for them. For too long they have been caught between an unsympathetic State and those men of violence who feed on their miseries. They want to get them off their backs. They see in the Anglo-Irish Agreement a chance of doing that.
I do not know what happened on Friday night in Loughgall. It is alleged in the papers that the security forces had prior knowledge either through infiltration, a mole, or by some other detection means. It is important that the minority should see that the security forces had no other option than to act in the way in which they did on Friday night. It is important because eight men are dead, eight men whom I would have preferred to see arrested, disarmed, tried and imprisoned. There are examples in the past where even the most vicious of paramilitaries from either side of the divide during their terms of imprisonment changed their minds about violence. I would have preferred to see that than to see them dead even though they might be guilty of the most horrendous crimes and members of an organsiation which is the enemy of all people. I would have preferred to see them arrested, tried and imprisoned than dead. It is important that it is established that the security forces had no other choice than to behave in the way they did. I do not know if that is so, but the Minister has the means of finding out.
It is also important to recognise that one innocent man lost his life on Friday night. I extend my sympathy and I am sure the sympathy of everyone in this House to his relations and to his brother who was severely injured. I know it is extremely difficult for the security forces in Northern Ireland when the IRA continually and deliberately try to create divisions between them and the minority and between the minority and the majority.
All politicians, North and South, whether Unionist, Nationalist or any Member of this House, must continue what we have been trying to do for so many years now on this island, which is to establish, through dialogue and politics rather than through violence, a system of government in the North of Ireland to which the minority can give their allegiance and support. The Nationalists must be given an opportunity to show, as many of them have so bravely done over the last 18 years that, given a fair deal, equal rights and opportunities, they will isolate the men of violence. I am afraid there will be suspicions well fed by Sinn Féin and IRA propaganda that there is a shoot to kill policy.
The Minister, in his role as co-chairman of the Anglo-Irish Conference, must let Nationalists see that he is vigilant on their behalf, that he will use his position as co-chairman of that conference to establish precisely what happened on Friday evening last, and to build on that growing confidence among the Nationalists and security forces in the future. It is essential that the trust that had begun to develop in the last 18 months continues to grow. The Minister can ensure that it does under the provisions of Article 7 of the Anglo-Irish agreement where it is said:
(a) The Conference shall consider
(i) security policy;
(ii) relations between the security forces and the community...
(b) The Conference shall consider the security situation at its regular meetings and thus provide an opportunity to address policy issues, serious incidents and forthcoming events.
The Nationalist community in the North of Ireland must see the co-chairman of the conference acting on their behalf and satisfying himself, as their and our representative at that conference, that the security forces acted as they did last Friday evening because they had no other choice. I do not pretend that the job of being a member of the security forces in the North of Ireland is easy. I do not pretend that the decisions they have to take, sometimes on the spot, are always right. I have absolutely no sympathy for any member of the IRA. Frequently I have a lot of sympathy for the security forces in the very difficult position in which they find themselves.
There is something much bigger, much more important, at stake here. We are fighting for the confidence, trust and faith of the Nationalists in the North of Ireland within the democratic institutions of all this island. The Minister sitting opposite, in his role as co-chairman, has the obligation now to ensure that that confidence built up so painstakingly over the last 18 months is not diluted as a result of what happened last Friday evening. In that time many Nationalists in the North of Ireland have come to recognise that the gun is not the answer to their problems. Rather the patient and painstaking application of political dialogue will ensure success on their behalf. That must now be built on.
I do not want to put the Minister in a difficult position; I am not even asking him to reveal the full details of what happened to this House. But the Nationalists in the North of Ireland must be assured that he is, on their behalf, establishing precisely what happened last Friday evening and that the security forces had no option but to behave in the way they did.
There will be a general election next months in the North of Ireland. We must be seen down here to give every possible support and absolutely no succour to the men of violence, but rather every possible support to those who want to see progress in the North of Ireland through politics and dialogue. In this very sensitive, difficult time the Minister has a particularly difficult and sensitive job to do. I am asking him here this evening to do that as quickly as possible — through the Anglo-Irish Conference, to regain the confidence of the Nationalists and of the security forces which I am afraid may have been damaged by the events of the last 72 hours.
I had tabled a Private Notice Question today which was disallowed asking the Minister for Foreign Affairs to outline the circumstances surrounding the ambush at Loughgall last Friday evening. I should like to be associated with Deputy Barry's questions to the Minister.
I appreciate the tenor and content of the remarks of Deputy Barry and Deputy Kennedy because they showed an appreciation of the sensitivity involved here. As far as all the parties in this House are concerned we are committed to a united Ireland. We are committed to peace and reconciliation in the whole island, to be achieved by democratic, political means. In the interim period we want to secure better community relations in Northern Ireland, a better society in Northern Ireland, so that there is equal opportunity assured for all people in the North of Ireland, particularly the minority population, in regard to vital areas such as employment. As a result of the New Ireland Forum process that has evolved in a continuing way, there is a serious sense of responsibility on the part of all political parties here in their view of the Northern Ireland problem. There is an understanding that basically what we have to do is seek to get the two communities in Northern Ireland closer together, get the Northern Ireland community and that of the Republic closer together, to allow for improved inter-community relations in Northern Ireland and ensure that we have an allisland approach to the problem, at the same time ensuring what one might call an east-west dimension between Great Britain and Ireland as a whole.
Coming to the events at Loughgall last Friday evening, I should say I am glad I have been given an opportunity to comment on them. I should like to give the House a brief outline of what happened. When I got news of the happening through the Anglo-Irish Secretarial I kept in touch all through Saturday. I was given information as it came through from the excellent staff we have in the Anglo-Irish Secretariat as part of their ongoing work. Information was provided at the time. Further information has come in since and is continuing to come in. I have been following the matter very closely and have maintained close contact also with the British authorities in relation to the matter.
As the House will be aware, I issued a statement on Saturday in which I described the attack on the RUC station in Loughgall as a further example of the futile acts of violence of the Provisional IRA. I emphasise the words "futile acts" because it is the futility of the cycle of violence that is so horrible and only exacerbates the situation further from wherever the violence comes and, on this occasion, the initial violence did come from the Provisional IRA. Of course it was met with further violence. Therefore, what might be described as the cycle of violence is the horrible situation to which actions of the kind attempted by the Provisional IRA in Loughgall lead. It is utterly futile. The loss of young lives is a futile act in itself. The contribution towards the sort of Ireland we are seeking, and sought to achieve by way of the New Ireland Forum report recommendations, is rendered more difficult when emotions are exacerbated by futile acts of violence.
The factual situation as I understand it is as follows: at approximately 7.20 p.m. last Friday evening the Provisional IRA launched an attack on Loughgall RUC station. Two vehicles were used in the attack, a JCB which was carrying explosives and a van. The explosives were detonated at the perimeter fence and the force of the explosion ripped the roof off the RUC station and demolished the nearby telephone exchange. In an engagement with the security forces eight members of the Provisional IRA were shot dead. These were named as Patrick Kelly, Anthony Gormley, James Lynagh, Patrick McKearney, Declan Arthurs, Seamus Donnelly, Eugene Kelly and Gerald O'Callaghan. A passing motorist, Anthony Hughes, was also killed and his brother critically wounded. The gun fire lasted approximately ten minutes. Eight guns and a quantity of ammunition were recovered from the bodies. The guns included six automatic rifles, one shotgun and one pistol. Forensic evidence has linked these weapons to the murder of four members of the Ulster Defence Regiment and three civilans over the past three years.
The violence which has been unleashed in the North this year has appalled all decent, law-abiding people North and South. A total of 13 members of the security forces have been murdered by the Provisional IRA so far this year. These have included nine members of the RUC, three UDR members and one British Army soldier. The North's second-ranking judge, Lord Justice Gibson, and his wife have been assassinated. A civilian instructor at Magilligan prison has been shot and his body used as bait to murder two policemen. Alleged informers have been tortured and shot. A man doing civilian contracting work for the security forces has been killed and a number of others have died in paramilitary feuding.
The campaign of violence mounted by the Provisional IRA is morally wrong. Injustices remain in the North but they can be and are being tackled by political means. The use of such intense and indiscriminate violence to achieve political objectives in the situation now existing in the North is not justifiable. The wrongs which are done by such violence are greater than the injustices which remain to be removed. There is very little support in the Nationalist community North or South for such violence. It is no answer to the problems of this island. Violence drives people apart, it turns Irishman against Irishman. I want no part of that. I am certain, in expressing that view, I am expressing the universal view of every Deputy in this House. The late Mr. de Valera said in this House on 24 June 1947 that the problem of partition "cannot be solved, in any circumstances that we can now see by force and that if it were solved by force; it would leave a situation behind it which would mean that this State would be in an unstable position".
We have a duty to the Irish people today, and to the generations who will come after us, to protect the peace and democracy which have existed in this country for the greater part of this century. We will vigorously pursue our national goals and aspirations but we will do so only through the political process. There are injustices — political, social and economic — which must be overcome in the North of Ireland. But we shall overcome them by using the framework for persuasion made available to us under the Anglo-Irish Agreement. The peaceful, democratic and united Ireland to which we all aspire will not come about — indeed, cannot ever come about — if we seek to impose our will by force. Only by peaceful persuasion will we achieve our objectives. The "armed struggle" of the Provisional IRA is unacceptable to the vast majority of the Irish people.
The violence used by the Provisional IRA is also futile. Quite apart from the moral question, in practical terms it is not advancing by one iota the cause which it ostensibly serves. It is totally counterproductive and puts that cause into reverse. It is destroying whatever basis may exist for co-operation between the Nationalist and Unionist traditions on the island. The hand of friendship which all decent Irishmen and Irish women in this part of the island want to extend to their Unionist neighbours is being spurned because of the violence perpetrated by the Provisional IRA and other paramilitary organisations.
I believe it is also right to say that the means used by the lawful authorities to counter this violence must be judged by high standards. Concern for the safety of all human life must be the criterion for all operations carried out by the security forces who have that duty under the rule of law. The State has of course a right and a duty to deploy reasonable force in defending itself and its citizens from paramilitary attack. In the North of Ireland the scale of paramilitary attacks, particularly in recent weeks, has been daunting and the problems facing the security forces there are formidable. However, in a society in which one section of the community has long harboured suspicion towards the security forces, it is important that any circumstances in which the security forces have deployed extreme force should be clearly shown to have warranted the use of such force.
I share Deputy Barry's view that this must be demonstrated clearly in regard to the Nationalist population in Northern Ireland. Because of the historical background to this whole situation it is very important, essential and right that everything the security forces do must not alone be but must be seen to be within the realm of the rule of law. It is essential to take, brick by brick, the confidencebuilding measures that are needed between the communities in Northern Ireland. Not the least of these confidence-building measures is the need to build up a regard on the part of the two communities, and particularly the Nationalist community, for the police force in Northern Ireland. That is one of the aspects to which I will devote further attention within the conference milieu. It is a matter for discussion at the next meeting of the Anglo-Irish Conference.
In the discharge of my duties as co-chairman of the Anglo-Irish Inter-governmental Conference I will be very concerned to uphold the principle to which Deputy Barry adverted that any action taken in the legitimate interests of security will be of a kind that people who respect the rule of law can support. In particular, the Nationalist population who have suffered by the wrong exercise of an institutional attitude during a long number of years must be motivated by an acceptance of the fact that a legitimate police force operates within the Northern jurisdiction, a police force that will concern themselves with not alone exercising the rule of law but with exercising it in total fairness and in an even-handed, balanced and equitable manner towards all sections of the community. The more that aspect permeates the consciousness of the two communities in Northern Ireland the better we can make progress towards a fundamental respect in that part of the island for the rule of law and for the protection of human rights.
The Dáil adjourned at 9 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 13 May 1987.