§ Mr. Litterickasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many individuals known to be or thought to be Catholics, have been murdered in Ulster since January 1971; and how many individuals have been arrested, charged or convicted, respectively, for these murders.
§ Mr. Mason, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 15th November 1976; Vol. 919, c. 443], gave the following information:
Both communities in Northern Ireland have suffered sectarian and interfactional assassinations. To give statistics about victims by religion would exacerbate sectarian divisions. From 1st January 1973 to 31st October 1976, there were 434 sectarian or interfactional assassinations. It would not be possible to identify without disproportionate effort how many persons have been charged with these particular 542W crimes, but over the same period 380 persons were charged with murder. Comparable figures are not available for earlier periods.