§ Mr. WorthingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many(a) republican and (b) loyalist paramilitary prisoners were granted home leave over Christmas; and how many of each persuasion failed to return; [8483]
(2) how many (a) republican and (b) loyalist paramilitary prisoners were not granted home leave over Christmas. [8484]
§ Sir John WheelerResponsibility for this subject has been delegated to the Northern Ireland Prison Service under its chief executive, Mr. Alan Shannon. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. D. Shannon to Mr. Tony Worthington, dated 16 January 1996:
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has asked me to reply to the two Parliamentary Questions you listed relating to the numbers of paramilitary prisoners who were granted/refused Home Leave over the Christmas period.Of those prisoners who are assumed to have paramilitary associations, 125 were eligible to apply for leave under the 1995 Christmas Home Leave Scheme. All of these prisoners were granted 7 days leave from 22–29 December and all returned to prison on 29 December 1995.The breakdown was:
- 68 prisoners with Republican affiliations
- 57 prisoners with Loyalist affiliations
No such prisoner who was eligible to apply under the 1995 Scheme was refused Christmas Home Leave.I hope this information is helpful.