§ Q6. Sir Gilbert Longdenasked the Prime Minister if he is satisfied with the co-ordination between the Northern Ireland Office and the Home Office in the matter of security precautions in controlling entry into the United Kingdom from Eire and Northern Ireland, respectively.
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir.
§ Sir Gilbert LongdenWould my right hon. Friend care to hazard a guess at how much longer the people of Great Britain will tolerate in Northern Ireland on the one hand the conspiracy of silence which shields these brutal murderers— whose identities must be know to hundreds of their fellow citizens—and on the other hand the obduracy of some of those who so quaintly call themselves loyalists?
§ The Prime MinisterOn the first part of the question, we all recognise the power of intimidation which has been exercised in certain part of Northern Ireland, particularly perhaps recently in Belfast. But we also welcome the fact that more and more information is coming forward to the security forces and that advantage is being taken of this. This is shown by the number of arrests which have been made in recent weeks and also in the collections which have been made of arms 1092 and explosives. On the second part of my hon. Friend's question involving what he called the obduracy of those who call themselves loyalists, I would have thought that last Saturday's meeting, which was on such a small scale, gives us encouragement to believe that moderate opinion— and a great deal of Northern Irish opinion —is in support of the Government's proposals in the White Paper. I believe that those proposals will receive more and more support.
§ Miss DevlinWhile accepting the need and the Government's desire for necessary security precautions in this country, may I ask the Prime Minister to ensure that such precautions are not carried out to such an extent that they are an infringement of civil liberties of individuals—as witness the case of 10 persons detained in Ealing police station? Could he state under what security regulations they were denied access to lawyers, visitors and priests and kept for four days in conditions in which, save for a blanket, all 10 were stark naked?
§ The Prime MinisterIt is essential that all precautions should be taken in security matters, but there is no intention of impinging on civil liberties. If there is any accusation on those lines, it is a matter for the courts to deal with.
§ Several Hon. Members rose—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I must remind the House that we shall this week have a two-day debate on Northern Ireland.