Mr Harold McCusker: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he considers that his terms for the reduction of the activities of the security forces and the release of internees are being met; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Harold McCusker: While I sympathise with the right hon. Gentleman in that most of his recent problems have been of a tit-for-tat sectarian nature, may I say that in the southern part of my constituency the head postmaster was murdered at Silverbridge, a UDR patrol was mined at Whitecross, 20 other shootings and ambushes have taken place and the IRA has closed its so-called incident centre? Is not all this an...
Mr Harold McCusker: Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that if he were to achieve the same degree of teamwork at Harland and Wolff as was achieved last night at Windsor Park, when Northern Ireland beat Yugoslavia, he would go a long way to coping with the problems of the shipyard? Will he congratulate them on that result and make every effort to ensure that the people of Belfast have every opportunity to...
Mr Harold McCusker: Will the Minister bear in mind that Short Bros. and Harland of Belfast would be in a particularly advantageous position to tender for the podding of these engines in view of the success of its contract with Lockheed?
Mr Harold McCusker: The right hon. Member for Lowestoft (Mr. Prior) said that the Bill had been hastily drafted and the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) referred to a number of mistakes which he had found. I would refer the House to Clause 114. I do not know how long a period has to elapse before it can be said that a Bill has not been hastily drafted. Clause 114 says: If legislation is...
Mr Harold McCusker: I agree completely—to some extent, that is my point—provided that the union official is prepared to act on the information when he is convinced that it is legitimate, honest and given for the correct purposes. Most progressive and responsible companies already have a system of guaranteed pay. In the past many of these have found this a useful bargaining counter in general wage...
Mr Harold McCusker: Can the hon. Gentleman give us details of the new French proposals to control imports into that country? Does he intend to implement similar legislation here?
Mr Harold McCusker: The firm referred to by the hon. Gentleman operates in my constituency. Indeed, members of my family are employed by the firm. To the best of my knowledge—I hope that the Minister can confirm it—that firm is not in receipt of a Government subsidy of any kind. In fact, it is a highly competitive, well-organised company. I am proud that, as the hon. Gentleman has made clear, it can compete...
Mr Harold McCusker: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many deaths from cancer occur in Northern Ireland each year; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Harold McCusker: What proportion of these deaths is due to lung cancer, and how does the proportion of Northern Ireland deaths from lung cancer compare with the proportion for Great Britain? What action, if any, has the Minister taken on the proposal that was put to him by the Ulster Cancer Foundation, and when does he hope to set up smoking advisory centres?
Mr Harold McCusker: I had not intended to intervene in this debate. I was merely holding a watching brief in case any of the "troops out" brigade came in to reiterate their unfounded allegations about Northern Ireland, in which event we might have had to correct the impression that they gave. It is surprising that there is none of them here to make the case that they argue so often. It has been a pleasure for...
Mr Harold McCusker: Mr. McCusker (Armagh) rose—
Mr Harold McCusker: Will the right hon. Gentleman tell me what effect the Bill, or the reciprocal Bill in the South of Ireland, is likely to have on those terrorists who are already fugitives in the Republic, and who have admitted their guilt by swearing before courts in the Republic that they committted their offences in pursuit of the Irish Republican Army ideals?
Mr Harold McCusker: It is a second best.
Mr Harold McCusker: I wish to raise a point which is really an extension of the point that I put to the Secretary of State. Does what the right hon. and learned Gentleman has just said mean that if those fugitives, currently in the Republic, who have escaped extradition, were apprehended in Northern Ireland, they would still be brought to justice? Could their sworn statements in the Republic be used to convict them?
Mr Harold McCusker: Why?
Mr Harold McCusker: I think that the hon. and learned Gentleman has misunderstood me. In years to come there is a strong possibility that some of those people who have been guilty, or who may be guilty, of offences will return to the North to visit their families, and so on. If they are apprehended in the North, shall we be able to bring them to justice there?
Mr Harold McCusker: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has any evidence to link those people who have been excluded from Great Britain under the Prevention of Terrorism Act with continuing acts of violence in Northern Ireland.
Mr Harold McCusker: Will not the Minister concede that the action of Brendan Magill, one of the first men to be excluded from Great Britain, who recently delivered the oration over the grave of the terrorists killed in my constituency and described them as having been killed in action, suggests some complicity with the behaviour of those terrorists? If he agrees that it suggests complicity, does he not agree...
Mr Harold McCusker: Does the Secretary of State agree that his incident centres can operate only as long as the Provisional IRA maintains its centres and that in Newry, when the Provisional IRA closed down its incident centre, the Government incident centre ceased to operate? Does not that situation give a credibility in the community to the Provisional IRA to which it is not entitled?
