Stormont Hansard 24 July 1968 Sean Garland, Bodenstown, 23 June 1968 Mr.

Craig: Fortunately there is very little need for me to occupy much of the time of the House. I would say to the hon. Member for Pottinger (Mr. Boyd), who is not with us, that I think he was being more than a little unfair. Indeed I think he was speaking to us with a touch of pomposity far removed from reality. To talk about there being no change in Northern Ireland seems to me absolutely incredible. When one considers the fact that we have some 220 new industries, when one studies our magnificent housing programme and our roads programme, one sees that it is untrue to say that there have not been big changes in Northern Ireland. This is the sort of change we want - a levelling up of society, the creation of new and better opportunities for all our people. Every member of the Government is fully committed to seeing that the resources of Northern Ireland are so deployed that all our citizens will have increasing opportunities for living a better life. I agree with the hon. Member for West Tyrone (Mr. O'Connor) that no one can take any exception whatsoever to those who oppose the Constitution of Northern Ireland legitimately. But this is where the rub comes in. There is a substantial body of opinion in favour of going beyond what is legitimate in the democratic sense. I would give it to my hon and gallant Friend the Member for Lisnaskea (Captain Brooke) and my hon. Friend the Member for North Londonderry (Mr. Bums) that no one will be allowed to ignore the rule of law or overthrow the democratic authority of this community. It would do hon. Members opposite a lot of good if they would just stop and assess the way things are going at present. I have every reason to be alarmed at the efforts which have been made to strengthen and reinforce the I.R.A and its different affiliations to renew their activity of violence in the community. During the debate on the Appropriation Bill I took the opportunity to read out a declaration of policy - no isolated declaration. Hon. Members must realise that we cannot afford to ignore the big effort which has been made and is being made. It would do no harm to read out a few words used by Sean Garland, a prominent member of the Irish Republican Army, when he was speaking at a commemoration ceremony at Bodenstown on 23rd June last. This is what we in Northern Ireland must face up to and recognise. Mr. Currie: Where is this report from? Mr. Craig: It is from the United Irishman. Mr. Currie: A banned publication. May we see it too? Mr. Craig: If the hon. Member wishes to have any assistance in putting down the illegal forces in Northern Ireland I will help him. Sean Garland's remarks on that occasion must be measured having regard to the position he holds in this movement. He said: "The traditional policy of the I.R.A up to the present has been to prepare the army for an armed struggle and use the civil wings of the Movement simply as support groups for publicity, finance, recruits and suppliers of transport and friendly houses. There is nothing wrong with these ideas but the real and most important function of the civil wing has been overlooked and neglected - that is of being a bridge between the underground activities of the army and the people - the connecting link.

The function of the civil wing of all successful revolutionary movements has been to act as the mass organiser of the people to lead them in their agitationary activities. Therefore we should be leading the people by means of the civil wings in agitating for better working, living and social conditions, in agitating for land, showing them in all these fights that their enemies are their landlords, their bosses and their gombeen exploiters and finally get them to understand that all these opposing forces are banded together in an organisation called the establishment. This changes drastically our traditional line of tactics. There are no longer two different types of republicans; physical force men and politicians. We in the Republican Movement must be politically aware of our objectives and must also be prepared to take the appropriate educational, economic, political and finally military action to achieve them." He went on to enumerate the burning of eight buses and the E.I. Shannon dispute as the sort of activities in which the civil wing should be engaged. What I am saying to hon. Members opposite is this: by all means pursue your ideals, but once you overstep the rule of law, once you neglect the proper democratic procedure, you can expect little sympathy from anyone who believes in democracy. I can give hon. Members the assurance in this House that the Government, while having no particular desire to have powers such as the Special Powers Act, will take and maintain whatever powers are necessary to deal with this body of ruthless men. I can only say that some remarks from hon. Members opposite in recent weeks have not helped in the direction of isolating from our community those who want to use violence and the gun. Once we all join in that the day will be nearer when the Special Powers Act can be removed from the Statute Book.