It is proposed that statements shall now be made on the situation in Northern Ireland and the following arrangements shall apply: speakers shall be confined to a spokesperson for each of the groups as defined in Standing Order 89 and each statement shall not exceed ten minutes.
Financial Resolutions, 1992. - Northern Ireland: Statements.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I can readily understand the wish of this House to express its views on the present dreadful situation that is developing in the North of Ireland. It is only natural that we would wish to place on record, at least, our total condemnation of these latest atrocities. Our hearts go out to the people of Northern Ireland. They deserve much better. To all the people of Northern Ireland let me say they have our deepest sympathy and understanding at this state of affairs that prevails throughout the Six County area.
We have all now become hardened to the statistics, but perhaps it is no harm to mention them again in their entirety. Over the past 20 years almost 3,000 people have died. What we would like to do, apart from expressing our sympathy to all those who have been affected in one way or another by this appalling violence, is to appeal for an end to it all. It is quite clear to everybody that it has now assumed a self-feeding spiral dimension and nobody can now attempt to forecast where it will end. We can only hope there are enough people of goodwill who have enough influence to try to ensure that some sanity will be restored to that demented part of our country.
I think we must also say — although this is no time for recriminations by anyone in this House — that we expect the British authorities to take every possible measure open to them, to take all the steps available to them within the law, to bring this period of horror to an end and to protect the lives and welfare of people on all sides of the community in Northern Ireland.
Words are lightly spoken and we must be very careful not to say anything here that would in any way exacerbate or inflame the situation. Nevertheless we all wish to send our message of deepest sympathy to all the people in Northern Ireland and to express a hope that the agony to which they are now and have been for the past 20 years subjected will sooner rather than later be brought to an end.
I am grateful that we now have the opportunity of expressing our views on this matter. I wish to make it clear that in making my remarks — and I am sure this is true also of the Taoiseach and other contributors — this House is expressing its horror not just at the murders that took place in the past two days but also at the appalling premeditated murder by the IRA of a number of workmen at Teebane, County Tyrone. Our sympathy goes out to all those who lost their lives in this way.
It is important that the House should recollect that this campaign of murder is a propaganda campaign. Each murder is timed deliberately for political publicity effect. Those who are killed are simply instruments in a propaganda campaign that is callously and carefully planned. In most cases these are not the acts of mindless people or those who are insane. These are acts of people who are making cold, political calculations that the best way to obtain publicity for their cause and to create desperation among the general population which will allow a situation to be created in which people will concede to their demands is to commit murders. They consider that the more horrible the murder the better, because it makes for more effective propaganda. Therefore, it is very important that all of us in democratic politics should take steps to deny these groups the publicity gains they hope to make. Clearly, the most effective way we can do that is by creating structures for proper constitutional political dialogue within Northern Ireland. In that way people in Northern Ireland will have other channels in which to express their legitimate concerns and in that way the attention that these violent organisations seek to get for their demands through murder will not be granted to them.
It is very important that we in this House do everything we can to create conditions for the resumption of active political discussions between the political parties in Northern Ireland. For my part, I have been meeting recently with all the political parties in Northern Ireland with a view to expressing my party's concern that we will do anything we can on this side of the Border — including looking at the provisions of our Constitution — that would be helpful in creating a sense of mutual confidence among politicians in Northern Ireland so that they can get together and start working constructively and building a democratic future together. In that way the vacuum that these calculating murderers are using for their political ends will be removed.
It is obviously important, however, that there be adequate security measures to bring the people concerned to justice. I appeal to everybody who has information about any of these murders, or who committed them, to give that information to the security forces on both sides of the Border. Furthermore, anyone on this side of the Border who is aware of where IRA arms may be hidden on this side of the Border should immediately give that information to the Garda Síochána. It is only if the arms which are being used — some of which may well be stored on this side of the Border — are identified and confiscated by the Garda that we can be absolutely sure that the logistical supply network which keeps some of these terrorists organisations in operation will be brought to an end.
I believe the majority of the crimes originate entirely within Norhern Ireland but, to some extent, there is a cross-Border dimension. To the extent that there is a cross-Border dimension, it is important that we have complete extraordinary arrangements that work fully and effectively between both parts of the island and cross-channel. I know the Government now share this view and that there is a promise that legislation will be introduced in the near future. I urge the Government to introduce this legislation straightaway. I urge the British authorities to do whatever they can of a legislative nature to facilitate that matter. I understand there are actions that they need to take on their side.
It is important that people have complete confidence in the security forces on both sides of the Border. That requires that the security forces for their part do everything they can to create conditions so that that confidence will be freely given. One provision of the Anglo-Irish Agreement was that "save in exceptional circumstances there would be an accompaniment of all UDR patrols by RUC members, by the civil power". I hope this provision will be fully implemented and that the Irish Government will use their influence to ensure that that happens so that the co-operation and information will always be given by everybody to ensure that the perpetrators of those murders are brought to court and tried in the normal way.
There should be complete co-operation not just between the Garda and the RUC but also between the military on both sides of the Border to ensure that there is no opportunity for people to use the Border in any way as a means of avoiding detection or apprehension if they have been involved in crimes of that kind.
This is not the occasion for a detailed exposition of the policy measures that need to be taken. I hope that it will be possible for a comprehensive debate on Northern Ireland to take place in the House in the near future so that Members can indicate our willingness to do everything in our power to bring the appalling cycle of deliberate murder to an end.
In conclusion, I wish to convey to the families concerned the heartfelt sympathy of the people on this side of the Border for the loss that they have suffered. We all know what it is to lose a loved one. The sense of numbing loss that individual communities must now feel and their sense of apprehension that this is just this week's horror, that there will be another horror next week and yet another horror the week after, must stop. That sense of tragedy combined with hopelessness is something that must be brought to an end.
I appeal to everybody, politician and ordinary citizen alike, who can do anything to bring the tragedy to an and — and every citizen has a responsibility because every citizen may come into possesssion of information which could lead to the apprehension of those involved — to do all in their power to bring the appalling cycle to a close.
I first thank the House for so speedily responding to the unanimous request that we be enabled, in however inadequate a manner, to express our sentiments on this day.
The first thing we have to do is convey without exception and without preference our total and utter sympathy to all of the victims and to the relatives of the victims right across the six counties of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a small community and there is not a single family within it that has not been touched by the appalling litany of carnage that has occurred during the past 20 years.
In the view of the Labour Party, violence is the manifest result of the failure of politics to solve the problems of the communal sharing of the space of this island. The continuation of violence — and I say this in this democratically elected assembly — is a reflection upon politicians not just of this House but of the elected Houses of these two islands, who together share the ultimate responsibility for finding the political framework within which some form of democratic politics can emerge, some form of democratic politics that can provide political space for every type of aspiration and communal value.
To that extent, while we are not directly touched by the violence that has wreaked havoc in Northern Ireland, we are continually affected by it and I appeal to all, not just in this House but also in the other Houses that have responsibility on these two islands, and in the houses that are empty today because of the failure of the political process to fill them. If we do not renew our efforts to find a formula that will accommodate the political process — however difficult that might be — then all that we can promise to the victims of violence is the reality of more violence.
On behalf of the Labour Party, I wish to address the Unionist community in Northern Ireland on two fronts. I say to them that over a long period on this side of this island a House that was originally divided on the question of relations between Britain and Northern Ireland finally came together under the guise of the New Ireland Forum and worked out an honourable historic compromise which retains the legitimate aspiration to national unity and the unequivocal disavowal of the use of violence as a means to achieve it. Having done that, the Unionist population, who are an integral part of the Irish nation and the community which shares this island and who have made a unique contribution to its culture, have nothing to fear from the people of this side of the island and their elected representatives. I further wish to say that the Provisional IRA do not act in our name, do not draw any mandate from our institutions or our traditions — of which I am justly proud — and in no way can derive, in any sense, shape, size or form, a justification for murder from the history of our Constitution or from the Proclamation of 1916. Indeed, the 1916 Proclamation calls upon anybody who acts in the name of Ireland not to despoil that name in any manner that would result in rape, murder or any other kind of violence.
I say to all people who share my dream of a nationalist coming together on this island broad enough to encompass the traditions of everybody who lives on this island, whether they be here for a thousand years or for 30 years, that they can find only within the democratic process, and only within the political space that we as politicians must create, an alternative to the violence that has wreaked havoc on so many families.
I conclude as I must, as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, by recognising the small but significant contribution that has been made in Northern Ireland by the trade union movement there in attempting to keep some of the violence that spills over into the communal areas of life out of the workplace. There is some flicker of hope that if that can be achieved in that small portion of the lives of those people lucky enough to be at work in Northern Ireland, then perhaps the abilities that combine in that area might combine in a communal sense to find a solution elsewhere.
My last word is addressed to my fellow professional politicians of both these two islands off the mainland of Europe — the only mainland that I recognise. We have to renew our efforts, we have to put aside prejudices and perhaps in some cases cherished traditions that are effectively preventing us from providing the political framework within which the real progress of politics can be made.
This has been a necessary opportunity for this House to say to the people is this island, north, south, east and west, and, in a broader sense, to the people of this island who no longer have the possibility of living on it, whether they be in England, North America or anywhere else, that we will renew our efforts to find some form of political solution and to provide a glimmer of hope to the people who have been the victims of the dreadful carnage.
If there were any people, north or south, who had become dulled by the regular, almost ritualised, killings in Northern Ireland throughout the past 20 years then they must surely have been shaken out of their apathy by the horrific events of the past few weeks. There have been 11 deaths since the weekend and 27 deaths since the beginning of the year. For two days in succession Belfast has been hit by acts of sickening violence which repel all decent people, north and south.
There can be no winner from this appalling cycle of violence, which has degenerated into new depths of viciousness in recent weeks. Each act of sectarian violence by one side is met by an equally vicious response from the other side: the Provos massacre building workers at Teebane, the UFF bring death and suffering to customers in a bookie's shop in the Ormeau Road. The entire community are the losers.
The majority of people, who have shown so clearly that they oppose the carnage, must take a stronger stand against the paramilitaries. The demonstration against violence in Belfast on Tuesday organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions should be only the start of a massive campaign to deliver a clear message to the gunmen to get off the people's backs.
While all paramilitaries must be opposed with equal vigour, citizens in the Republic must recognise that we have a particular obligation to take on and defeat the Provos. People in the Republic, including politicians, cannot stand aside and remain indifferent to the violence and terror in Northern Ireland. Bomb attacks against the people of Belfast must be viewed with the same seriousness as if bombs were being placed in O'Connell Street or Grafton Street. The murder of Protestant workers in Teebane or of Catholics in Ormeau Road must be viewed in the same light as if they were happening in Tipperary or on the North Circular Road in Dublin. It is time the people of the Republic followed the courageous example set by the people of Cooley last summer following the murder of Thomas Oliver. All democrats must shun the Provisionals and all those who would offer any excuses or act as apologists or offer them any comfort, direct or indirect. We must challenge them and what they stand for, from the local authorities, from the trade unions, from community groups, residents associations, sporting clubs and anywhere else they are found. The Provos and all paramilitaries must be treated as a common enemy by all democrats.
Against the background of the current events surely the democratic politicians in Northern Ireland must now accept that they cannot stand aside and allow the sectarian gunmen to continue to submerge Northern Ireland in a sea of blood. The people of Northern Ireland are crying out for political leadership and statemanship. Instead, they have got politicians who appear to believe that posturing and preservation of their positions is more important than the pursuit of peace. They may well now have a matter of weeks, if not days, to prevent Northern Ireland from enduring a level of violence and death not yet contemplated. They must now review political dialogue as a matter of urgency and ensure that progress is made on establishing the democratic structures so necessary if terrorism is to be isolated and defeated.
None of us is under any illusion that dialogue or even agreement between the parties on democratic structures would automatically bring an end to the horrific violence, but without progress on these matters the prospect of freeing the people of Northern Ireland from their terrible ordeal becomes even more remote. If politics is not to lose all relevance and meaning for the people of Northern Ireland, the party leaders must either do the job for which they are elected or stand aside and make way for political leaders who will. When I say that we in the South must recognise the realities, I include recognising the reality that it is a political myth to believe that the Unionist people regard themselves as part of the Irish nation and recognising that it is a political myth to believe that they can be cajoled or persuaded to join a united Ireland as a lesser evil than the violence they are now enduring. It holds out a false hope for people North and South if that is presented as an option, because it is not an option. We must face realities. There are two communities in Northern Ireland and they are divided in their political loyalty, by their history and by how they regard themselves with regard to the Republic of Ireland and with regard to Britain. We in the Republic must face that reality if we are ever to have any hope of undermining the Provisional's position and the politics they stand for, because basically that is what they argue. I do not pretend to know or understand all the complexities of the situation but I appeal to all politicians to try to understand the nature of the problem in Northern Ireland.
I want to convey my sympathy to the families and the community of those people who are being slaughtered and who will continue without doubt to be slaughtered in the next few days. It is as inevitable as night following day that there will be more deaths in Northern Ireland in the coming days and weeks. I offer my sympathy to those communities and families whose loved ones are being taken from them in such an irretrievable and brutal way. We are rapidly reaching a point when democratic politicians have to decide on the balance of protecting the lives of our citizens and protecting the freedom of those who may be engaged in that kind of activity. As a former victim of internment I do not like to consider that as an option, but the authorities North and South must actively put that on the agenda and consider whether that may be an action which may be necessary to protect the lives of people who are entitled to go about their daily business in Northern Ireland without let or hinderance or the threat of death.