Mr Harold McCusker: I presume that the Minister is now giving us the Government's considered response to Sir George Baker's suggestion. However, let us put the matter in perspective, although I acknowledge the comments, that the Minister has made. Some people think that somehow or other Sinn Fein is the controlling body. In fact, it is the creature of the IRA. For whatever reason, the Provisional IRA decided...
Mr Harold McCusker: Does that mean that the Chief Electoral Officer can make a decision which will create immense problems for everyone concerned? I have talked to the local police about this, and it is important.
Mr Harold McCusker: My hon. Friend the Member for Londonderry, East (Mr. Ross) has once again put his finger on an ambiguity. When we look at that ambiguity, we realise that there are problems which we had not expected. I refer to the definition of "polling station". I had always believed "polling station" to mean the school or other public building that is used at elections. However, as my hon. Friend has...
Mr Harold McCusker: It is clear that the Chief Electoral Officer is interpreting the order in his own way, and interpreting it differently in different places. I hope that the Minister will be able to provide clarification.
Mr Harold McCusker: My right hon. Friend will not be surprised to hear me say that I agree with him. Nothing surprises me any more about the electoral law which applies to Northern Ireland or the election processes applicable to it. The Minister has been asked to comment upon the observations of one of his ministerial colleagues at the Home Office. We shall be told that Northern Ireland is different. Whenever...
Mr Harold McCusker: I agree with the hon. Gentleman. As he knows, this will be compounded 30 or 40 times, because there will be many more of those people to whom we must listen. The Government should have faced this before. I hope that in the years ahead the Government will not wring their hands and wish that local government representatives in Northern Ireland would act in a more cooperative fashion for the...
Mr Harold McCusker: That was my first thought. I am told that if someone was designated as a second presiding officer, or as a senior presiding officer, he could stand in a particular place and vet voters. I believe that there will be many problems in doing that. I presume that the Minister has been consulted on this matter, and I hope that he can give us some assistance. The Northern Ireland people want to know...
Mr Harold McCusker: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will introduce legislation to require banks, on his instructions, to deposit with the High Court moneys which are suspected either of belonging to illegal organisations or of being destined for use in furtherance of terrorist activities, such moneys to remain on deposit for a specified period during which the custodian of the funds may...
Mr Harold McCusker: Does the Secretary of State agree with me that the Government of the Irish Republic are to be commended for the speed and determination with which they tackled the suggestion that large sums of money were being deposited in their bank for use by terrorists? Even if the right hon. Gentleman is not yet in a position to do the same thing in Northern Ireland, does he not nevertheless believe that...
Mr Harold McCusker: I accept that interim payments are useful, but how can the Minister describe the system as speedy and efficient when it takes up to and over two years for the final settlement to be made? Surely the Minister should re-examine the entire procedure.
Mr Harold McCusker: Despite what the Secretary of State said, does he accept that although there may be matters of mutual interest which should be discussed with the Government of the Irish Republic, the future of Northern Ireland should not be so discussed?
Mr Harold McCusker: Does the Minister agree that, irrespective of whether the Act is repealed, the police would still have to intervene when the flaunting of a flag or emblem was likely to lead to a breach of the peace?
Mr Harold McCusker: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will instruct Northern Ireland civil servants and the employees of statutory bodies in Northern Ireland within his responsibility to refuse to meet or communicate with elected representatives of Provisional Sinn Fein.
Mr Harold McCusker: What aspects of the behaviour of Sinn Fein are so objectionable to the Secretary of State that they prevent him from meeting or communicating with its representatives? Why do they not apply to civil servants and those employed in statutory bodies, and to families, many of whose members may have been murdered by associates of Sinn Fein?
Mr Harold McCusker: Of course, my right hon. and hon. Friends will support renewal of this legislation. But on their behalf I should point out that we are extremely disappointed that the Government have not used the power of proscription contained in the Act to re-proscribe Sinn Fein. I make no apology for saying that, because I have been saying it over the years. The hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, North...
Mr Harold McCusker: I shall come back to that issue, but I wish to refer to several other matters first. The hon. Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough (Mr. Flannery) talked earlier about the supergrass system and seemed to suggest that the potential abuses within the system were special to Northern Ireland. I shall read to him an article from a London newspaper on 16 September last year, which was headed:...
Mr Harold McCusker: I am just as revolted as the hon. Gentleman by what he has related. In fact, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland vindicated the system by exposing that individual. All I am saying is that the system of supergrasses is not confined to Northern Ireland, and that the evidence of criminals is accepted elsewhere.
Mr Harold McCusker: One would not have known it in view of what was said earlier. Mr. Gilmour only became all the things we have heard described once he decided to turn Queen's evidence. Prior to that, he was a close friend of these people — a confidant. He joined them in their murdering activities. He only became what the hon. Gentleman said when he decided to tell the truth—
Mr Harold McCusker: It has been suggested that the Government are pursuing a shoot-to-kill policy in Northern Ireland. That policy is being pursued not by the Government but by Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinnis and their associates. They pursue that policy with a great deal of efficiency.
Mr Harold McCusker: Is it any wonder that when the security forces are confronted with people committed to a shoot-to-kill policy they do not stand in front of a car, hold up their hands and ask them to stop—they would probably be run down and gunned down. If the security forces have to make split second decisions to defend themselves that result in the deaths of armed terrorists engaged in murdering an...
