HC Deb 18 June 1981 vol 6 cc1169-70
9. Mr. McCusker

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give details of the investigations currently taking place within the Royal Ulster Constabulary connected with matters of discipline.

The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr. Michael Alison)

It would not be appropriate for me to give details of any disciplinary investigations taking place within the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Mr. McCusker

Can the Minister give us any idea of the cost of these investigations? Does he agree that the money would be better spent, and that the time of the distinguished members of the police service coming from the mainland to Northern Ireland would be better spent, if they investigated the pig-sty conditions in which members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary have to live in many areas of the Province and which were highlighted at the recent Police Federation conference in Northern Ireland?

Mr. Alison

I cannot without notice give the hon. Gentleman information about the cost of the inquiry. It is an internal disciplinary inquiry and I have full confidence that the Chief Constable will regard it as yielding good value for money. With regard to police premises, the hon. Gentleman knows that a great deal of money is being spent on these and that a large programme is currently in train.

Mr. Fitt

Does the Secretary of State agree that an inquiry is taking place in the ranks of the RUC in an attempt to discover whether any member of the RUC is leaking information to accredited reporters from newspapers in Britain? If so, will he include in that inquiry those policemen who gave information to the hon. Member for Antrim, North (Rev. Ian Paisley) on the occasion of the visit of Archbishop Runcie to St. Anne's cathedral, when the hon. Gentleman called off a scheduled protest because he had been advised by the police that Princess Alexandra would be there? Will he include that leakage in any inquiry that takes place?

Mr. Alison

I note the point made by the hon. Gentleman, but I must repeat that this is an internal RUC inquiry, undertaken on the initiative of the Chief Constable. If he thinks fit to have an inquiry into the matter raised by the hon. Gentleman, no doubt he will do so.

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