CAB128-94_A1b — Page 115

Northern Ireland Previous Refere

CC(89)

NFIDENT

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THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND said that both the marching season in Northern Ireland and the 20th anniversary of the deployment of British troops on the streets of Belfast and

Londonderry had passed off more quietly than had been feared. This had been due to some remarkable attrition of terrorist organisations by the security forces and lack of enthusiasm for collective action among members of the republican community. However, recent allegations of leaks of information about republican terrorists from members of the security forces to protestant paramilitary groups and the affair of Corporal Hastie, combined with the first death in August from the use of plastic baton rounds since March 1986, had

ased disquiet in the nationalist community and in the Government of the Prish Republic, and it was clear that they would lead to a difficult meeting of the Anglo-Irish Conference the following day. Both he and the Secretary of State for Defence had been at pains to make clear that the rule of law would prevail among the security forces, and he would speak robustly in these terms at the Conference. on a happier note, the Prime Minister's recent visit to the Province had been a great success.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE said that he was still investigating the Armed Forces aspects of the allegations about leaks of information about terrorists from the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). It was critically important for the reputation of the security forces that such leaks should not occur and that any evidence that they had should be investigated rigorously.

THE HOME SECRETARY said that doubts were now being voiced in Dublin about the conviction of the Birmingham pub bombers on the basis of the current allegations fractice in the Serious Crimes Squad of the West Midlands Police. In fact there was no evidence of any link between these allegations and the pub bombers' case, which had been exhaustively reviewed by the gourt of Appeal in 1987. He had explained the position to the Foreign Minister.

THE PRIME MINISTER said that any evidence of wrong doing in the security forces should be pursued Vigorously. It was also important to recall the very great bravery of members of the security forces; for example, 174 members of the UDR had been murdered, the great majority of them off-duty. She had been impressed during her visit to the Province both by the increased prosperity which she had found and by the lack of any protest about the Ardorish agreement, other than the absence of Unionist MPs from public events.

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THE HOME SECRETARY said that the statistics of drugs sejaures and drug offenders dealt with in 1988 would be published that day. These showed a 27 per cent increase in the number of seizure of drugs. The quantity of cocaine seized was for the second year running greater than that of heroin: the quantity of heroin seized

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prugs

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CONFIDENTIAL

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