§ Mr. Peter Robinsonasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many persons were convicted at Belfast City Commission in 1980 for terrorist-type offences; and how many of this number received non-custodial sentences.
§ Mr. Alison[pursuant to his reply, 21 July 1981]: In 1980, 621 persons were convicted at Belfast Crown court of offences which are scheduled under the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978. 232 of them received non-custodial sentences. I should point out that a few of these cases—it would not be possible without disproportionate cost to say how many—were by order of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland tried with a jury as if they were not scheduled offences; and that not all offences tried as scheduled offences are necessarily terrorist-type offences.