Asked by: Lord Tebbit (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have been charged with terrorist offences connected with Northern Ireland since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
Information on charges for terrorist offences with a connection to Northern Ireland is held by a number of agencies. Northern Ireland Office officials are currently undertaking a consolidation exercise to confirm the answer to this question and I will write to the Noble Lord once this exercise has been completed.
Asked by: Lord Tebbit (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) members, and (2) former members of the security forces have been charged with offences relating to their duties in Northern Ireland since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The Government does not hold figures on prosecutorial decisions as this is a matter for the prosecuting authorities (in this case the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland) who act independently of Government.
We are aware, however, that since 2011 the following decisions have been taken in relation to offences connected to the security situation in Northern Ireland that took place prior to the signing of the Belfast Agreement on 10 April 1998.
Asked by: Lord Tebbit (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prosecutions for acts of terrorism in Northern Ireland were made (1) in each of the five years prior to the making of the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998, and (2) in each year from the making of that Agreement until the devolution of policing and criminal justice on 12 April 2010.
Answered by Lord Dunlop
Northern Ireland Office officials are currently undertaking a consolidation exercise to confirm the answer to these questions. I will write to my Noble Friend once this exercise has been completed.
Asked by: Lord Tebbit (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many persons convicted of acts of Northern Ireland-related terrorism have been granted early release from prison since 10 April 1998.
Answered by Lord Dunlop
Northern Ireland Office officials are currently undertaking a consolidation exercise to confirm the answer to these questions. I will write to my Noble Friend once this exercise has been completed.
Asked by: Lord Tebbit (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many letters of comfort were issued to on-the-runs (1) in the five years before 10 April 1998, and (2) between that date and 12 April 2010.
Answered by Lord Dunlop
It is assumed that by ‘letters of comfort’ my Noble Friend means those letters issued under the administrative scheme introduced by the previous Labour Government which were intended to inform individuals that, as at the date of the letter, the recipient was ‘not wanted’ for questioning or prosecution in Northern Ireland or the rest of the UK.
Prior to 10 April 1998, no such letters were issued. The first such letters were signed by Mr Jonathan Powell (the then Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff) and were sent to Sinn Féin on 15 June 2000. A total of 156 individual such letters were issued during the scheme, 144 were issued prior to 12 April 2010.
The following table provides more detail of all letters that were issued.
2000 | During the year: (a) 2 individuals received the above mentioned letters from Jonathan Powell, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff; (b) 0 individuals informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
2001 | During the year: (a) 16 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office; (b) 0 individuals informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
2002 | During the year: (a) 17 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office; (b) 19 individuals informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
2003 | During the year: (a) 9 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office; (b) 23 individuals informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
2004 | During the year: (a) 0 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office; (b) 0 individuals informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
2005 | During the year: (a) 4 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office (1 of whom had previously been informed that they were ‘wanted’); (b) 17 individuals informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin for the first time that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland” (in the cases of 12 of those individuals it appears that Sinn Féin had already been notified of that fact at a meeting). A further 46 are similarly informed during the year and had been also advised as such at an earlier time by the Northern Ireland Office. |
2006 | During the year: (a) 8 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office (2 of whom had previously been informed that they were ‘wanted’); (b) 5 individuals informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
2007 | During the year: (a) 58 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office (35 of whom had previously been informed that they were ‘wanted’); (b) 0 individuals informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
2008 | During the year: (a) 6 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office (2 of them were on the Irish Government List and 1 had previously been informed that they were ‘wanted’); (b) 1 individual informed in writing for the first time by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”; a further 7 individuals are similarly informed during the year and had also been advised as such at an earlier time by the Northern Ireland Office. |
2009 | During the year: (a) 21 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office (2 of whom receive the same letter on two separate occasions, and 10 others of whom had previously been informed that they were ‘wanted’); (b) 5 individuals informed by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
2010 | During the year: (a) 11 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office (4 of whom had previously been informed that they were ‘wanted’); (b) 5 individuals informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin for the first time that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. A further 29 individuals are similarly informed during the year and had also been advised as such at an earlier time by the Northern Ireland Office. In addition, 4 individuals are informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin for the first time that they were “wanted for return to prison in Northern Ireland” but were “eligible to apply to the Sentence Review Commissioners for early release”. 2 of those 4 individuals had previously been informed that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
2011 | During the year: (a) 1 individual received an above mentioned letter from the Northern Ireland Office (the individual had previously been informed that they were ‘wanted’); (b) 1 individual informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
2012 | During the year: (a) 3 individuals received the above mentioned letters from the Northern Ireland Office (1 of whom had previously been informed that they were ‘wanted’); (b) 0 individuals informed in writing by the Northern Ireland Office via Sinn Féin that they “would face arrest and questioning if they returned to Northern Ireland”. |
Asked by: Lord Tebbit (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 27 March concerning the amnesty against prosecution for members of the IRA, whether the administrative scheme of comfort letters sent to on-the-runs has been terminated; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Dunlop
In March 2014, the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland first announced that the administrative scheme established by the former Labour Government into the so-called ‘on the runs’ was at an end. This was repeated in a statement to the House of Commons following publication of a detailed report into the scheme by Lady Justice Hallett in July 2014 (HC Deb 17 July 2014 Col 1040). It was further confirmed in a statement to the Commons on 9 September (HC Deb 9 September 2014, columns 779-789). In her report, Lady Justice Hallett concluded that “The administrative scheme did not amount to an amnesty for terrorists…Suspected terrorists were not handed a ‘get out of jail free’ card”. This Government has always been clear. In May 2010, had we at any time been presented with a scheme that we thought amounted to an amnesty, immunity or exemption from prosecution, we would have stopped it immediately. As far as those who received letters are concerned, the Government made very clear in the statement on 9 September 2014 that “Those who received individual or composite letters, or any other form of indication, stating that they were “not wanted” and who derived comfort from that should cease to derive any such comfort. In short, the recipients should cease to place any reliance on those letters” (Col 779). This Government believes in the application of the rule of law without fear or favour - where there is evidence sufficient to warrant prosecution people will be prosecuted.