Terrorism (Northern Ireland) Bill

I am delighted to follow my hon. Friend the Member for East Londonderry (Mr. Campbell). As has already been indicated, we will support the Bill in the event of a Division. The Bill’s title is ““Terrorism (Northern Ireland) Bill””, and terrorism has been a sad reality—constantly and continuously—in the lives of the people of Northern Ireland, in particular, for more than 30 years. We have witnessed the ravages of terrorism. We have seen what it has done to families, communities and society in general. However, let us never forget that behind each statistic on terrorism is a personal tragedy. Let us not forget the homes and families that have been destroyed because of terrorism in our Province. In not only the United Kingdom as a whole, but across the world, the reality of terrorism is gripping society. We see how it threatens civilised society throughout the world. The tragedy of Northern Ireland politics is that terrorists have been capitulated to and appeased for the past 30 years. The sad reality is that that capitulation and appeasement policy have not ended. The appeasement policy is continuing. I must confess that I am absolutely amazed by how gullible successive Governments can be. Whenever the IRA suggests that it will make a statement, it seems that democratic society is supposed to wait with bated breath and then hang on every word of a terrorist thug who makes a statement in the political arena. It is somehow seen that that changes the whole scene and that we must be thankful for it. Government Ministers have even praised the IRA, but for what? Do we thank the terrorists for stopping their terrorism? Are we supposed to thank them for no longer—at this present moment—showing the evidence that they are murdering and causing mayhem and destruction in our society? I say this without equivocation: terrorist organisations deserve no praise and no thanks from Members of this House. There was no justification whatsoever for their acts of terrorism over the past 35 years. There was no justification for leaving little children without a father. There was no justification for their terrorism, which robbed mothers of their children. Nor do they deserve any thanks because they say, ““We are not going to continue our terrorist campaign at this moment. We are no longer going to destroy the lives and scatter the bodies of little children across society, the hills, the streets or the roads of Ulster.”” That is the sickening position that we are in—that somehow we are to praise them, to crawl to them and to make them acceptable in our society. That is what has been happening over the past weeks and months. I believe with all my heart that that is the sickening reality. The IRA seems to have got very sensitive. We had the decommissioning of its weapons, or at least those that were known about, and none of those were from 1996. It did not want photographs of that. It was not so sensitive when it allowed the cameras in for other reasons. The Government were happy that the cameras were present when they demolished the watchtowers. They were not as sensitive whenever the troops were taken out and were photographed getting on to the plane. The IRA was not as sensitive about the cameras outside the gates of the prison whenever the IRA terrorists got out as part of the Belfast agreement. It was, however, sensitive when it came to having independent witnesses endorsed by the community and having photographic evidence of the destruction of terrorist weaponry. That is why society in general in Northern Ireland is not jumping up and down but is cynical about what has happened with the IRA. Unionists are supposed to believe the IRA because it has made a statement. We are to believe Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, but for the past 35 years Adams and McGuinness denied being in the IRA’s so-called army council. They were lying through their teeth. Now, whenever they say, ““Ah, well now the war is over””, we are supposed to believe that somehow this dishonest grouping has turned honest and that those who have shown no integrity are now people of integrity, decency and honesty within our society, and we supposed to bow in submission to them. That is something that the Unionist population will not be doing to the IRA or Gerry Adams. He was part of the IRA machine that committed murder and destroyed the lives of innocent people, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, in Northern Ireland.