§ Rev. Ian Paisleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the public statement made by the United Kingdom Ambassador in Washington relating to the speech about the Northern Ireland situation by 245W Senator Edward Kennedy was made with his authority; whether he will publish the text of the statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT; and if he will make a further statement.
§ Mr. Anthony RoyleThe statement made by Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador in Washington was made after consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The text is as follows
The Northern Ireland problem is not a colonial problem. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland, Mr. Lynch, himself has said 'There is no real invader here. … This whole unhappy situation is an Irish quarrel.' British withdrawal would not make the Northern Ireland problem disappear. Successive British Governments have indicated that if a majority of the inhabitants of Northern Ireland said that they wished to join the Irish Republic. Britain would not stand in their way. The crucial point is that the inhabitants of Northern Ireland have for the past 50 years continuously voted by overwhelming majorities to remain part of Britain. There are over a million people in Northern Ireland, out of a total population of a million and a half, who are determined to remain British. Cardinal Conway, Primate of all Ireland, and the Catholic Bishops in a statement last September asked, and I quote, 'who in his sane senses wants to bomb one million Protestants into a United Ireland?' British troops are in Northern Ireland for the purpose of stopping murder and bloodshed perpetrated mainly by extremists. Their restraint has been highly commended by impartial observers. Far from averting the civil war which Senator Kennedy fears, the withdrawal of British troops would lead to further bloodshed.I do not think any further statement is called for.