ANGRY REACTION TO LYNCH’S THREAT

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32474, 8 December 1970, Page 17

ANGRY REACTION TO LYNCH’S THREAT

DUBLIN, December 7. Angry Irishmen today called for a nation-wide campaign against the threat of the Prime Minister (Mr Jack Lynch) to gaol extremists without trial.

Leaders of Sinn Fein, political arm of the outlawed Irish Republican Army (1.R.A.), said that all organisations in the republic must protest. “They must do so by resolution, by telegram, by telephone call, by letter and to the press,” Sinn Fein said in a statement. It warned that its members would not accept internment without trial—a move threatened by Mr Lynch on Friday when he announced that Irish police had uncovered a secret armed conspiracy to kidnap prominent persons in the republic. “Internment may have been accepted passively by republicans in the past,” Sinn Fein said. "It will never again be so accepted. “They will never again suffer the indignity and degradation of being thrown behind barbed wire and held at gunpoint without charge or trial for an indefinite period of time.” While most Irishmen were bewildered by the suddenness of the Government threat of drastic action against extremists, political leaders demanded fuller information on the alleged plot. The Opposition Leader (Mr Liam Cosgrave) introduced questions to be answered in

Parliament this week. He was joined by the Labour leader (Mr Brendan Corish), who said that nothing short of near insurrection would justify the reopening of the internment camps, unused since the 1959-1962 I.R.A. campaign of violence. Under pressure from joum-

alists on Saturday night, Mr Lynch promised to elaborate on the Government statement before Parliament.

Although the Army readied the internment camp at Curragh, about 25 miles south of Dublin, there was no immediate sign that the Government was prepared to put its threat into action. It already had served notice on the Council of Europe of its intention to invoke the offences against the State act if it considered it necessary. It did so because the proposed action would be a breach of the Convention on Human Rights. To invoke the act, the Government must first issue am order signed by the Justice! Minister and published ini “Iris Oifiguil,” the official' Government publication.