Security (Hansard, 13 June 1991)

§ 8. Mr. Molyneaux
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the security situation in Northern Ireland.

§ Mr. Brooke
Since I answered a similar question on 2 May, 13 people have been killed as a result of the security situation in Northern Ireland. Six were civilians, which number includes three suspected terrorists; three were members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, three were members of the Ulster Defence Regiment and one was a regular soldier.
Those stark figures demonstrate the grim reality of the terrorist threat. What they cannot show is the human heartbreak and misery caused by terrorism—or, indeed, the dedication and sacrifice of members of the security forces in protecting the community.
The Government will not be deflected one iota from our commitment to the maintenance of the rule of law and defence of the democratic process.

§ Mr. Molyneaux
In view of the predicted and predictable increase in violence which has attended all initiatives in the past 20 years, will the Secretary of State take back to Cabinet the request of the two security chiefs for additional resources to be made available while the initiative completes its run?

§ Mr. Brooke
I am conscious of what underlies the right hon. Gentleman's question. It is a matter of satisfaction to the House that those taking part in the talks have adopted so robust an attitude to the level of terrorist violence during the process of the talks.
My right hon. and noble Friend the Paymaster General made clear on Tuesday, when speaking to the Police Federation, the process and status involved in the request from the Chief Constable for further additions to the RUC and the reserves—but, given the speculation in the press about other applications, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on that. I give the right hon. Gentleman the assurance that such matters are kept under permanent review.

§ Rev. William McCrea
Does the Secretary of State agree that my constituency has suffered in the past few weeks, as other constituencies have done previously? Bearing in mind the mass murder bid in Cookstown in a Protestant housing estate where more than 100 houses were seriously damaged and the serious bid by terrorists in the Coagh district to remove more innocent civilians of my area, will he accept that the House and the entire community owe a great debt of gratitude to members of the security forces for the manner in which they have helped to preserve life in Northern Ireland? Will he also accept that the people of my area, although relieved at the removal of dangerous terrorists, are rather anxious and apprehensive about the onslaught which we know that the IRA will make on our district?

§ Mr. Brooke
The whole House will join me in sympathising with the hon. Gentleman for what terrorism has meant in his constituency. It is occasionally worth remembering what it means. It means a man gunned down in front of his wife while working on their new home; a father shot in front of his two young sons not even in their teens while a third child, a baby, slept; and a son left to call his grandmother for help. I could go on with a litany of brutal, senseless violence, but that is what terrorism is all about. The hon. Gentleman was right to refer to the threat to a whole community constituted by the bomb which went off recently in a housing estate. I join him in his tribute to the security forces.

§ Mr. Maginnis
Will the Secretary of State accept from me that the violence of terrorists is anything but senseless? It is quite deliberate and has been well orchestrated over the last five and a half years. I remind him that 346 people have died as a result of violence since the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and that the annual murder rate has risen on average by 34 per cent. during that time. Would he think it unfair of me to observe that Ministers speak about terrorism as though it began a fortnight ago and will all be settled during the next fortnight? Does he realise that 20 years of suffering by the people of Northern Ireland deserves a better response when senior military and police officers in Northern Ireland ask for two extra battalions at this particularly sensitive time? Will he guarantee that those battalions will be provided to meet the request of senior officers?

§ Mr. Brooke
I do not want in any sense to be combative in my approach to the hon. Gentleman, but I am not sure that he serves the interests of democracy and everything that we in this House hold good by suggesting that the violence of the terrorists is anything other than senseless, for he and I know that the terrorists are not going to win, and in that sense the violence is senseless.
As for the statistics that he quoted in relation to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, I remember intervening in a speech that he was making to ask him to comment, also in terms of the years concerned, on the assistance by way of massive armament resources that the IRA had received from Libya during the same period. He did not return to that matter in that speech.
No one can be more sure than I of what the 20 years have meant. In the context of the hon. Gentleman's question about force reinforcements, he will know as well as I that reinforcements are the more effective when they come as a surprise, as has happened in the past year.

§ Mr. Peter Robinson
Has the right hon. Gentleman yet received a report from the Chief Constable of the RUC arising from the investigation into irregularities in the investigation that led to prosecutions for the murder of Adrian Carroll? If he has received such a report, is he in a position to send the matter for retrial? If not, will he urge the Chief Constable to produce it expeditiously?

§ Mr. Brooke
The report from the RUC was delivered to my office in Belfast today. It is a large report and I cannot give a guarantee about the time it will take me to embrace it. Having assured the hon. Gentleman that it has reached me, I confirm, as I have said on previous occasions, that we shall deal as expeditiously as possible with the evidence presented to us.

§ Mr. McNamara
Is the Secretary of State aware that the Opposition support him in his statement about the timing and arrival of force reinforcements in Northern Ireland? That matter must be left to the discretion of the security chiefs and is not an issue which must be booted about abroad. Has the right hon. Gentleman had discussions with the Secretary of State for Defence about the implications of the Army cuts in Northern Ireland? Because it is of special interest to a particularly sensitive area, will he consider issuing a statement on the matter to clarify the possible options for security policy for Northern Ireland resulting from the cuts?

§ Mr. Brooke
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence and I have reasonably regular bilateral 1032 meetings to discuss security in Northern Ireland and the part that the armed forces play in it. When my right hon. Friend made his initial statement on the programme "Options for Change" in relation to cuts in the armed forces, he made clear in answer to an Opposition question that there would be no implications for the provision of the security forces in Northern Ireland and that they would be maintained at their previous level.