HC Deb 22 January 1976 vol 903 cc1528-30

12. Mr. Nicholas Winterton asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will now increase the military presence and security on the border between Ulster and Eire, particularly in the counties of Armagh and Fermanagh and South Tyrone, and further press the Eire Government to do likewise.

Mr. Merlyn Rees

The military presence in border areas is adapted to the needs of the local security situation. That in County Armagh is being increased as the Prime Minister described in his statement to the House on 12th January. I am satisfied that the Government of the Irish Republic, with whom I have recently had talks, will continue to co-operate in response to the needs of the situation.

Mr. Winterton

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his answer. Will he accept that I welcome the new military stature and more realistic tactics that seem to have been adopted by the Government? Have the additional troops in the border areas been drafted to those areas from other parts of Ulster, or from BAOR? Is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied with the deployment and numbers of the SAS, because its personnel are the best equipped and best trained to counter terrorism?

Mr. Rees

I am confident that the GOC knows how to use members of the SAS better than I do. That is his job. A realistic policy must adapt itself to the type of security needed in the area. Although I am sure that it would be easy to answer the hon. Gentleman's question, I think it would be very wrong for me to say where soldiers have come from or where they are going to. In the light of the flexibility that the GOC needs, I think it is best that I say nothing on that matter.

Mr. McCusker

Does the Secretary of State recall that, following the atrocities at the beginning of September, he introduced the spearhead battalion? There then followed a lull in terrorist activities, which resulted in the spearhead battalion being redeployed. That lull was followed by an upsurge in murder, which culminated in the atrocities at the beginning of this year? Will the right hon. Gentleman assure us that the spearhead battalion will not be withdrawn again if the same pattern emerges?

Mr. Rees

I point out to the hon. Member for Armagh (Mr. McCusker), who is faced with the emotions in all parts of the country which come from killings, that the spearhead battalion, as its name implies, goes in and out. In my view when the spearhead battalion is being used and other redeployments are taking place, we should avoid its becoming a matter of public concern and comment.

As far as I am concerned, if the GOC wants extra soldiers, he can have them. The judgment must be his. In the north of the county, where the UVF has been active and about which there has not been the same amount of comment in British papers, for understandable reasons, there has been murder by Protestant para-militaries on a consistent scale. That will not be solved by a larger military force. It will be settled by detective work, and the police are doing very well.