Mr. Wm. Rossasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions has the Royal Prerogative been exercised in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years to release persons who were imprisoned; what were the grounds of release in each case; and how many had been convicted of terrorist type offences and had claimed special category status or were known to be members of the OIRA, the PIRA, IRSP, UDA, UVF, UFF or Red Hand Commandos, respectively.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 15th October 1975; Vol. 897, c. 744–5], gave the following information:
224 of the above were granted a few days' remission under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy to enable their release to be made before rather than after Christmas, in accordance with custom in Northern Ireland. 218 have been released as a result of anomalies which arose from the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences during the years 1970–73. I understand that 542 were released between August 1971 and April 1972 on health and humanitarian grounds. 138 whose sentences were due to expire on or before 31st March 1975 were released at the beginning of January last, in accordance with an announcement which I made on 31st December 1974. The remainder were released on compassionate grounds.55W
1970 161 1971 609 1972 164 1973 158 1974 116 1975 to date 164 The figures include the following number of special category prisoners released since June 1972 when special category status was introduced:
Republican Loyalist 1972 3 Nil 1973 10 2 1974 15 15 1975 to date 28 26 Information concerning the terrorist affiliations of prisoners is not readily available except as regards their special category status.