§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Defence if, pursuant to the statement of 7 July, Official Report, column 258, by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Peterborough (Dr. Mawhinney), he will specify the nature, scope and dates of the investigations carried out since 1979 into allegations by Mr. Colin Wallace and Mr. Fred Holroyd concerning the conduct of the security forces in Northern Ireland.
§ Mr. FreemanThe allegations made by Mr. Holroyd in 1983–84 about alleged criminal activities by the security forces in Northern Ireland have been investigated by the RUC. In December 1984 the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland concluded that the evidence did not warrant the initiation of criminal proceedings against any person, nor did he feel that any further investigation was necessary. There has also been an investigation and committee of inquiry—the former led by Sir George Terry in 1982 and the latter by Judge William Hughes in 1984—into various aspects of events at the Kincora boys' home about which statements were made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 4 February 1986,Official Report. columns 98–99, and by the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 18 January 1984, Official Report, column 319. Mr. Wallace was given every opportunity, which he failed to take, to attend both the investigation and the committee of inquiry.
In addition to these formal investigations, a number of hon. Members have raised matters concerning Mr. Holroyd and Mr. Wallace with Ministers. These have also been fully investigated. I have, therefore, nothing further to add to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, East (Mr. Taylor), on 3 March 1987, at column 577.