Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

When we look at the North, it is in some ways a case of everything being different, yet in some ways everything remains the same. I was in Derry at the weekend at the invitation of a community organisation to discuss issues of justice following on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday. It had been approximately 28 years since I had been in Derry and in some ways it was like nothing had changed at all. Big murals calling for an end to internment, armoured cars, tanks and guns and all the rest were alive and well on the streets. We would do well to look back 42 years to Bloody Sunday. People involved in that march did not come along to get shot. The original march was about internment, a situation where people are incarcerated and have their liberty taken from them without the benefit of a trial, which is an affront to democracy. That scenario radicalised a generation.

Now, 42 years on, we have a new power structure and a new Administration, but it must be said that internment without trial still exists. People are ending up in prison, in some instances at the whim of the Northern Ireland Secretary of State. This is an enormous attack on human rights and civil liberties but, critically, it is an incredibly destabilising issue in the communities and in terms of the peace process. Those of us involved in the cross-party group in the Oireachtas have had the advantage of being able to visit a number of prisoners in Maghaberry and of meeting the Northern Ireland Minister for Justice, visiting the Northern Ireland Office and other members of the Northern community.

I must say, however, that the cases of the likes of Martin Corey and Marian Price, who had their licences or parole revoked, have shocked us. Marion Price is the only person in the history of the universe who had a pardon which was mysteriously lost. These people have been recently incarcerated, without being told the evidence against them, on secret information, with secret hearings being conducted by the parole commissioners. The legal rights of these people have been absolutely violated by secret hearings, secret evidence and so on. This is outrageous and is an insult to any idea of real justice and transparency. It is also a hugely destabilising issue in Northern Ireland. We have made the point on numerous occasions that had Marion Price's ill health resulted in her condition worsening in prison, this could have had a seriously destabilising effect and could have created a martyr.

We must recognise there is a case of internment by remand, where people, like Stephen Murney, are being kept for incredibly long periods without hearing the charges against them and without being able to answer for their alleged crimes. This again is hugely destabilising. Stephen Murney has spent 14 months in prison, yet only recently had charges put to him. By the time his case came to trial, most of the charges were struck out and not pursued, but the man had already spent over a year in prison. This is not on. Neither is the situation where we have prisoners who had to embark on a "dirty" protest for over a year in order to reach agreement on improvement in prison conditions. Yet, these prisoners will tell us that many months after agreement was reached and they came off the protest, many of the agreed conditions in terms of free association have not been implemented and they continue to face invasive body searches and so on. We must acknowledge that unless these issues are addressed, they will continue to fuel dissident activity.

Sectarianism and division are alive and well. We have a sectarian carve-up at the top, but on the ground many of the issues have not been addressed. Nowhere is this more evident than in the area of housing. I do not have sufficient time to deal with that issue, but earlier this week the UN rapporteur for housing published a report of her visit to Britain and Northern Ireland, in which she highlighted the inequality problem in North Belfast in terms of the housing situation. As a result of the sectarian carve-up, those in charge are unwilling to address the issues of substandard housing because housing Catholics in the area might result in a different electoral configuration next time around. People's human rights are being violated.

The last point I wish to make is that discrimination is not an exclusively Catholic possession. We have met many Northern Protestants who feel alienated and who feel their issues are not being addressed. Unless their concerns are taken on board in a joint campaign or co-operation that will deal with civil, political and economic rights, we will not have a lasting peace and the stabilisation so many people desire.

See this speech in context