§ Mr. Stratton Millsasked the Minister of State for Defence how many incidents in Northern Ireland have involved explosives which involved a detonating mechanism operated from the Irish Republic; and if he will list the amount of explosive involved in each case.
§ Mr. BlakerBetween 1st January and 22nd November, 1972 there were 19 incidents involving explosives which were attached to detonating mechanisms located in the Irish Republic. This total includes devices in this category which were dismantled by the security forces. The total amount of explosive involved was about 3,500 lbs, and the individual devices weighed between about 20 lbs and about 700 lbs.
§ Mr. Stratton Millsasked the Minister of State for Defence what is the total amount of explosive that has been recovered by the security forces in the vicinity of the Northern Ireland border.
§ Mr. BlakerBetween 1st January and 22nd November, 1972, 18,500 lbs of 105W explosives were recovered from dismantled devices in Northern Ireland. More than 3,200 lbs of this total were recovered from devices found close to the border.
§ Mr. Kilfedderasked the Minister of State for Defence what steps the Army is taking to deal with the recent attacks by school children in the Bogside and Creggan estates in Londonderry instigated by the Irish Republican Army.
§ Mr. BlakerThe security forces continue to patrol these areas. Attacks by young school children, while usually just a nuisance, are on occasions made use of by gunmen who are less scrupulous than the Army about the children getting hurt in the process. For this reason, as well as to restore civilised standards of behaviour, it is imperative that parents, teachers and other responsible adults should discourage such hooliganism.
To this end the Army are seeking a meeting with headmasters in the area in the very near future, and it is to be hoped that this will prove constructive.