IRISH TERRORISTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25275, 12 July 1943, Page 2

IRISH TERRORISTS

PARACHUTISTS HARBOURED MINISTER’S INDICTMENT (Rec. 7 p.m.) ' DUBLIN, July 9. Parachutists who landed in Eire m 1940 were not captured for 18 months. This was revealed in the Dail by the Minister of Justice, Mr Gerald Boland, who said plans for an invasion of Eire were discovered immediately after a parachutist landed. A second parachutist landed and was captured, but he escaped from prison and was not arrested again for three months. It was known that the I.R.A. harboured both parachutists, said Mr Boland, who was defending the Government against attacks regarding internment orders. Mr Boland recalled that a group of people in 1938 had “the cheek to make a declaration of war against the British people, too. What sort of war was it? It wasn’t a standup fight like that of other days. It was the dropping of a handbag or an attache case full of explosives in a crowded thoroughfare, something that brought a flush of shame to the cheeks of Irishmen.” Mr de Valera said: “ We cannot carry on without the powers of internment, restraint and prevention. If we have not these powers we cannot govern. I say also we are going to have a posi • tion in this country which is going to involve us in another civil war.”