§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the costs were of his attempts to prevent theSunday People publishing articles concerning the activities of the Force Research Unit and allegations of collusion and loyalist paramilitaries. [134886]
§ Mr. HoonThe Ministry of Defence's costs for this case are currently estimated at approximately £28,000. TheSunday People is paying its own costs.
The Ministry of Defence made an application to the Court because there was good reason to believe that the Sunday People intended to print information that could put lives at risk and damage national security.
The Court made Orders (agreed between the newspaper and MOD) on 13 October which include provisions preventing the newspaper publishing certain information of that kind.