§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will seek powers to prevent the publication of the names and addresses of persons his Department considers likely to be vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 5th July 1976; Vol. 914, c. 424], gave the following information:
Powers to prohibit such publications were taken in the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1973 and the categories of persons to be protected 686W were extended under the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) (Amendment) Act 1975. At present the prohibition is mainly in respect of persons concerned with the administration of justice, and while I would be prepared to consider extending the list to cover other groups there are difficulties in defining categories clearly. However, I am very conscious of the particular matter which the hon. Member has in mind, and, as I indicated in Parliament on 1st July—[Vol. 914, c. 636]—it was quite misguided to publish a list of names and addresses of 250 business men in Northern Ireland. I hope that all editors will have taken note of the recent tragic events.