§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many suspects detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order requested a solicitor; and how many had such access delayed for each year since the inauguration of the order and to the latest convenient date in the current year.
§ Dr. Mawhinney[holding answer 15 October 1991]: In the year beginning 1 January 1990, the day on which the relevant provisions of the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order came into effect, 22,848 arrests were made under the order. On 5,554 occasions the suspect requested a solicitor and in 20 cases such access was delayed. From 1 January 1991 to 14 October a total of 18,399 arrests have been made. The central collation of statistics relating to requests for a solicitor was part of a pilot study to monitor the new legislation and the information has not been collated this year. It could be obtained now only at disproportionate cost.