§ 77. Sir Ronald Rossasked the Minister of Information why, as the security reason for censorship is to prevent leakage of information across the Eire border, there is censorship of mail from Northern Ireland to Great Britain; and whether he will discontinue this procedure as it fulfils no useful purpose.
§ Mr. BrackenSome censorship examination of the mail from Northern Ireland to Great Britain is necessary in order to detect whether there has been any leakage of information to Eire, and to trace any channel of communication which may have been used.
§ Sir R. RossDoes my right hon. Friend really think that that is necessary? If he is putting a censorship upon information going from one part of the United Kingdom to another part of the United Kingdom why does he not put it on the whole of the United Kingdom internal mail?
§ Mr. BrackenI can assure my hon. Friend that the censorship is based only upon security reasons, and no other. I should be very glad to get rid of it, but the security authorities insist that it must be carried out.
§ Sir R. RossIn view of the reply that security is the only reason for preventing information leaking into Eire, is it not clear that the censorship of mails from Northern Ireland to Great Britain does not affect that in the slightest degree?
§ Mr. BrackenThere does not seem to be much co-ordination among the Members from Northern Ireland, as there is an hon. Member on the other side who is always putting down Questions to ask me to take much stronger measures to stiffen up the censorship in relation to Eire.
§ Sir R. RossWe still want that done.