ULSTER BORDER High-level talks today

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32700, 1 September 1971, Page 17

ULSTER BORDER High-level talks today

(N.Z P.A -Reuter—Copyright) BELFAST, August 31. Urgent moves to prevent further trouble on the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic will be considered at high-level talks in Belfast, Dublin and London today.

In Dublin, the Irish," Republic Prime Minister (Mr Lynch) willl, preside over a special s i Cabinet meeting called to [discuss the implications; of the border clash on Sunday, in which a< British Army corporal f was killed and another, t soldier was seriously 1 wounded by members of * the outlawed Irish Re- ! publican Army armed ( with machine-guns. i A statement, on the inci- t dent is expected from Mt , Lynch after the Cabinet meet- , ing. ! There is speculation that I the Irish Cabinet is divided t over what line the Government should take on the < shooting. Political observers 1 say that moderates wish to I express regret over the death I of the British soldier, while I hard-liners would like to I condemn the British Army < for making an incursion into ; republic territory. ' In Belfast, moves to tighten security on the border seem certain within ' the next few days. ‘Block roads’ j The Minister of State tor ' Home Affairs in the Northern 1 Ireland Government (Mr' John Taylor) said yesterday 1 that about 130 auxiliary roads leading into the' Republic of Ireland should be physically blocked, and about 20 others turned into manned check-points, in an effort to end violent border incidents.

Mr Taylor also called for the Government of the republic to take severe action against the 1.R.A., which, he said, had complete freedom in the republic to train and to move about.

He said he wanted to see Northern Ireland increase the security of her border, even if this meant creating a new force to augment the 12,500

men of the British Army and the part-time Ulster Defence Regiment, which has a strength of 4000 officers and men. Plan opposed Lord Chalfont, ~a former Cabinet Minister in the last British Labour government, has described Mr Taylor’s [border plans as unworkable. It was not feasible to seal the border, he said, adding that Mr Taylor’s talk of a “third force” was, militarily and politically, dangerous. During the troubles with the I.R.A. from 1956 to 1960, the Northern Ireland side of the border was patrolled by the now-disbanded “B” Special Constabulary, an allProtestant para - military ' auxiliary force. There have been increasing demands from militant Protestants in Northern Ireland that the “B” Specials be brought back. The force, hated by the province’s onethird Roman Catholic minority, was disbanded two years ago as part of the Government’s reform programme. In Dublin yesterday, the Leader of the Social Democratic Labour Opposition in the Northern Ireland Parliament (Mr Gerry Fitt) was admitted to hospital, suffering from a slipped disc and exhaustion, after a whirlwind seven-day tour of America, during which he gave 36 radio and television interviews, giving his explanation of the Northern Ireland situation.