§ Lord KILBRACKENasked Her Majesty's Government:
In view of their reply to his Question on 24th November (col. 1023) regarding the late Mr. Sean O'Conaill, whether they can now confirm that on 21st September he asked his solicitor, Mr. Alastair Logan, to arrange for Ms. Jacqueline Kaye to visit him in Parkhurst Prison hospital; that Mr. Logan made this request by telephone on his client's behalf to the appropriate Home Office official on 23rd September; but was informed that it could not be granted for reasons of security.
§ The MINISTER of STATE, HOME OFFICE (Lord Harris of Greenwich)I can confirm none of these statements. The visit of Mr. Logan to Mr. O'Conaill on 21st September 1977 in Parkhurst Prison hospital was a visit in sight but out of hearing of the supervising prison officer. Mr. O'Conaill himself made no request to the prison authorities to receive a visit from Ms. Kaye either before or after Mr. Logan's visit. The Home Office official to whom I understand Mr. Logan claims to have conveyed such a request has no recollection of Mr. Logan1736WA having told him on 23rd September or at any other time that Mr. O'Conaill had requested a visit from Ms. Kaye, nor of his having on any occasion said that reasons of security precluded a visit by Ms. Kaye to Mr. O'Conaill. In normal circumstances if a request for such a visit had been made it would have been refused, but the reason given for refusal would have been that Ms. Kaye was not known to Mr. O'Conaill before he came into custody. If in the particular circumstances Mr. O'Conaill had requested a visit by Ms. Kaye, or a request by him for such a visit had been reported to us and subsequently confirmed by Mr. O'Conaill on inquiry, we would have given serious consideration to the request, bearing in mind the purpose of the visit as well as our natural desire to meet reasonable requests of a prisoner who was approaching death.