Hang terrorists — M.P.’s call

Press, 22 February 1978, Page 9

Hang terrorists — M.P.’s call

NZPA-Reuter London; Public outrage over re-1 rewed guerrilla violence ini Northern Ireland has led to a cal) in Parliament for the death penalty for political I terrorists. One member also suggested that Britons be given a better idea of the outlawed Irish Republican Army terror tactics by being shown "a piece of skull with hair attached” — all that remained of a victim of the blast in a Northern Ireland! The provisional wing of!

the I.R.A. has admitted re- : sponsibility for the exI plosion, which killed 12 and I seriously injured 23. ] Mr Roy Mason, Secretary 'for Northern Ireland, told I the House of Commons that reintroduction of the death penalty would not deter I.R.A. fanatics but give them i the glamour of martyrdom. He said that progress had been made in curbing sectarian violence in the province. But he warned that the provisional I.R.A. "retained I the capacity to perpetrate ioutrages of this kind." The death toll in Northern

Ireland fell from 296 in 1976 to 112 last year. Mr Mason appealed to paramilitary Protestant groups in Northern Ireland not to retaliate. The province was quiet on Monday but bus services were in chaos after the bombing of a depot. Fifteen .buses were destroyed. Twenty people taken in for questioning after the explosion in the La Mon restaurant near Belfast were stir being held. The provisional I.R.A. claimed that it gave warning of the bomb. 1 But in Parliament, Mr

Mason insisted the I.R.A. could not “pretend that they could not foresee the carnage that it would cause. Tl ey have been rightly condemned in every quarter.” I

He reiterated there would! be no amnesty for convicted] terrorists and expressed concern that some were oper-i ating from south of the bor-' der in the Irish Republic. 1 One Protestant leader, .Mr William Craig, told Parlia-, ment that the only way to handle the "cornered rats”; of the I.R.A. was to reintro-j duce detention without trial.: Mr Mason resisted this.