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5.57 pm
Mr. Ken Maginnis (Fermanagh and South Tyrone): A few weeks ago, when President Clinton came to Northern Ireland, he reflected in what he had to say publicly that which his Administration and officials had said privately to Ulster Unionists during the past couple of years--that there was no place in a democracy for violence and murder. He added:
- "You must stand firm against terror. You must say to those who still use violence for political objectives--you are the past; your day is over. Violence has no place at the table of democracy; and no role in the future of this land."
Lest there be any misconception in the House about what is happening in Northern Ireland, I must take this opportunity to put the record straight.
The joint British and Irish Downing street declaration was agreed in December 1993 and was, with helpful intentions, unequivocally endorsed by the United States Administration. It obliges all concerned, including the terrorist organisations within both traditions, to accept that the constitutional future of Northern Ireland can be decided only with the consent of its people, given through the ballot box. However, even now, Sinn Fein-IRA has not accepted the Downing street declaration or the principle of democratic consent. Of course, Sinn Fein-IRA has continued to refuse to commit itself to a permanent cessation of violence. Instead, it has used the 31 August 1994 ceasefire to negate the spirit of the Downing street declaration and as the basis for a series of political demands. There is certainly no evidence of any principle eschewal of violence or concern for the greater good of society and all Government attempts to accommodate a series of supposed IRA concerns have been met by negative and threatening responses.
I refer to Sinn Fein in particular, not because I am unaware of the terror and suffering which has been inflicted by loyalist terror groups but because loyalist organisations have at least accepted, albeit conditionally, that there is a need to decommission illegal weapons and explosives and they have pledged themselves to observe a "no first strike" policy.
One of the co-founders of Families Against Intimidation and Terror, or FAIT, recently listed the reality of IRA activity as experienced at grass-roots level in republican areas. Henry Robinson, himself a reformed republican terrorist, points out that terrorist organisations are still intact with their command structures in place, illegal activity is still on-going and fear and intimidation are commonplace. He is also right to say that Northern Ireland paramilitaries have never renounced violence in the way that was required of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the African National Congress, for example.
Despite concessions by the British and Irish Governments, the IRA has given no quarter to the people who run foul of its code, nor has it accepted the democratic view that brutal and summary justice and capital punishment are not options. The IRA has been responsible for 169 of the 261 barbaric beatings and the eight murders that have occurred in the past 16 months. How can anyone who is genuinely concerned with the welfare and security of ordinary law-abiding citizens in Northern Ireland seriously suggest that there is no need for the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act?
When I speak of the ordinary citizen in Northern Ireland I am talking about more than 90 per cent. of the community. Those who view terrorism from afar may not realise that Sinn Fein-IRA achieved the support of only
4.4 and 4.8 per cent. of the total Northern Ireland electorate in the European elections in 1989 and 1994. Even in the last two local government elections in 1989 and 1993, where well-known local candidates would have tended to maximise the potential vote, Sinn Fein gained the support of only 6.3 and 6.8 per cent. respectively of the electorate.
Herein lies the Sinn Fein-IRA dilemma. How to adapt to the political role of being a small minority of a minority is never quite obvious when logic is clouded by the debris of a Semtex bomb or distorted by the crack of an AK47 assault rifle. That is why there is an absolute necessity to remove the deadly influence of illegal weapons from the Northern Ireland equation.
It is generally believed that the IRA holds 80 to 100 tonnes of modern sophisticated weaponry, while loyalist terrorists have another seven or eight tonnes. The IRA also possesses the capability to compound an efficient home-made explosive, or HME, which, when boosted by a small amount of commercial explosive such as Semtex, has the devastating power that was seen at Oklahoma and at the Baltic exchange in the City. With about 2.5 tonnes of Semtex, the IRA has the potential--using mainly HME with a 1 kg Semtex catalyst--to detonate an Oklahoma-type bomb every day for the next seven years.
In addition to their bomb-making ability, the Provos can boast enough high-velocity assault rifles to equip two Army battalions. It has more than a dozen Duska half-inch heavy machine guns capable of shooting down helicopters, numerous 7.62 mm general-purpose machine guns, up to a dozen SAM 7s--surface-to-air missiles-- and a significant number of RPG7 anti-armour rockets. The armoury also includes snipers' rifles and ammunition and a multitude of submachine guns, small arms and flame-throwers. Those resources are adequate to keep a terrorist campaign going for at least the next 15 to 20 years.
Against that background, the House should try to make a considered and balanced judgment when evaluating the need to renew the emergency provisions legislation. There is a great deal of talk about infringing the human rights of the individual, but, coming from Northern Ireland, perhaps one has a keener perception of where the real denial of rights occurs and who are the chief offenders.
The Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act is but part of a very complex package that is necessary to safeguard the community to which I belong. In the face of the IRA's present rolling resumption of violence, it has been and remains an essential element in the armoury of the police. I believe that it will remain so until there is disarmament by terrorists and disbandment of their murderous organisations.
That is why the Ulster Unionist party has advocated and supported the establishment of a disarmament commission comprising people of international repute. I regret that events led to the commission being obliged to commence its work so close to the Christmas recess and now having to work to an impossible schedule.
The members of the commission, coming from Finland, Canada and the United States, barely had time to read themselves into the complex circumstances of Northern Ireland before the holiday break disrupted their endeavours. They are planning to resume work this
week--seven or eight days before the report is expected. A good idea has become mission impossible because of the holidays, because of the snow in Washington which has prevented some people from flying out, and especially in the light of the existing level of violence which, in the month of December, when five people were murdered by terrorists, was higher than the terrorist violence in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1994.
I appeal to the Government, and my party will do all that it can to co-operate in the matter, immediately to extend the time scale for the commission by up to six weeks. The adjustment for which I ask is minor when taken against the background of 26 years of terror and uncertainty. The commission having committed itself to examine disarmament, it is important that it is able to do its work properly and to present before the eyes of the world--we all recognise the importance of international opinion--the real picture of what ordinary, decent people in Northern Ireland and in the rest of the United Kingdom must face and fear at the hands of 5 per cent. of the Northern Ireland community.
The Secretary of State and the Minister of State must know that I am right. I hope that they will advise the Prime Minister of the need for patience and perseverance. Unless there is disarmament, there will be no opportunity to move the present tenuous ceasefire, which belongs exclusively to the terrorists--it is held like the sword of Damocles over all our heads--into a proper peace process, which can be the possession of the entire community.
I thank the Minister with responsibility for security matters in Northern Ireland for the sensitive and sympathetic manner in which he has sought to reassure the security services and, especially, the police during what has been a difficult period for them. They have welcomed the ceasefire, as we all have, but they are bombarded with thoughtless and foolish rumours about the future of the RUC. Members of that service realise the importance of remaining alert, being properly equipped and of being supported by the strength of the law. Those are reasons why the EPA must be renewed.
We would be negligent if we left our police service vulnerable to the potential for violence. There are so many reasons for doubt among the members of the RUC. Having stood for so long between the terrorist and the law-abiding community, it is imperative that the House endorses the good work that the Minister of State has been doing in seeking to sustain the morale of the RUC. I am concerned that consultations and the inevitable rumours that surround them may have a debilitating effect that the worst onslaught of terrorist violence has never been able to achieve.
We have had the police authority inquiry, the RUC's own internal examination and the two-pronged study of the Northern Ireland Office, one prong dealing with the administration of the service and the other with its future and size. There is genuine concern among those who have done so much to enable a high degree of normality to be maintained, even during the worst of the violence. We cannot let these people down. When it comes to their future, there must not be a little adjusting here and a little tampering there. There must be no surprises. There must be a package produced after full and meaningful consultation.
We should not seek to isolate the EPA from the need to ensure that the complex issues pertaining to peace in Northern Ireland are seen in their broadest perspective. Of course my party would welcome changes that heralded normality, but it would be more than concerned if the devious devices of the 5 per cent. of the population who posture and threaten with bomb and bullet were allowed to erode the interests of society.
The Secretary of State has promised that interrogations will be video recorded. The hon. Member for Redcar (Ms Mowlam) has argued that the process should be extended to include audio recording. I was a little sorry for the hon. Lady today because she appeared to be rather like Janus, looking forward to reality in the sense that the EPA is essential while looking back and pretending that it might be tampered with to an extent that would make it entirely ineffective. I felt that a Labour party tactic was being portrayed as a principle. It is especially disappointing that that should be so when we may well be moving into an election phase.
We do not know which party will form the next Government. Northern Ireland cannot afford indecision over the years. That has been proved.
I am disappointed that the Secretary of State has decided to implement the recommendation that video cameras should be introduced. I believe that the system will not work. At least it will not work for the forces of law and order. Instead, it will work for the terrorist. In this instance, the hon. Member for Redcar has become slightly confused. There is no check or balance when a lawyer demands in court to see the video recording, as he or she would be obliged to do. The recording will be seen by the public or conveyed to the public by a member of the court service.
It is not realistic to say, "Put the cameras up there above his head and we shall not know what the terrorist is saying. We shall not be able to elicit that from a view of the top of his head." The IRA will know how to counter that approach. Every IRA man going into the holding centre will be told, "You do not strip off your clothes and lie on the floor any more. You don't crawl under the table. You sit on the chair, you look at the ceiling and you keep your mouth tight shut. If you don't do that, we shall know that you are co-operating with your interrogators." There goes a vital source of information for the police, which will bear on our hope to enforce law and order in the most difficult circumstances.
The Secretary of State has talked about the element of the Act that will deal with those sanctioning and directing terrorism. I welcome that. The right hon. and learned Gentleman has been assured, and so have I, that the present killings are being sanctioned at the highest level by the army council. We know who has replaced Martin McGuinness as officer commanding northern command of the Provisional IRA. Will that gentleman be brought in for questioning and, I hope, charged with an offence? The Minister of State will give great reassurance if he is able to tell me that that will happen.
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