Letter from John Williams of the British Embassy to Ireland, Dub

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NATIONAL ARCHIVES

IRELAND

Reference Code: 2003/17/341

Title: Letter from John Williams of the British Embassy to Ireland, Dublin, to HJ McCann, Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs, attaching statements by British Army

authorities, HQ [Headquarters] Northern Ireland, and Brian Faulkner, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, concerning the use of force by the British Army. .

Creation Date(s): 26 May, 1971 Level of description: Item

Extent and medium: 6 pages

Creator(s): Department of Foreign Affairs Access Conditions: Open

DFA/5 Department of Foreign Affairs

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T · , T OF 8T ATEMENT I S U ED BY T H E BRITISH ARMY ON

EV~

INn O F 25 MA Y 1971

Orders governing the cpenlng of tire a re issued to a ll soldiers. W e do not discuss these orders

but b asica lly soldiers may fire whenever they believe life to be in danger. R o1diers do not need orde rs from superiors to! .... ire when confronted with gunmen

a..Yld their 11 vesare in. danger .

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A number of' quest.1ons nave been asked ooncelring

the example quoted by the Prime M inister in the Bouse this evening . The A f'mY confirm again that

the incident referred to was correct. A fter

bringing the stolen oar to a ha.lt by r runm1ng . shots wore tired by soldiers in pursuit of the oooupants

who~

after warnings to halt had been given. turned a.nd a.ppeared to be pointing a weapon. H owever.

it is not necessar1 for ^the ^A ^{rmy to} ^give ^a ^warning

to armed men wi th whom they a re engaged bef'ore they

open fire.

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1fEXT OF STA'r~ENT MADE BY MR 13 F AUI l<N ER O N 1500 H ra

NE W S , 26 MA Y 1971

I em ph asised in the H o us e of C ommons last night tha t the A r my stood ready to rea.ct a t once 1n any dangero us s i tu a tlon, am. t hat there was no d elay an d

co nstrai nt upo n t hem to prevent the effective us e of their fire pow er i n eng,agements with a rmed men. I

m ad. s th is statement f or two reasons . First. to re-assur e t he l aw a b iding pO D ull1ti o n of Northern Ireland t hat w hile

llerllla. warfa.re i n the n a ture of thi ngs f avours t he terrorists . the A rmy w i ll lo s e no o pportuni ty of

s t r iki n h a.r d end t'ast . Second" t o w ar n, not t h e hard- core IRA , . - f or ^t ay a. e pas t w arni ng - b ut Dt.l¥ m i sguided dupes on t he fringe of t errori s m t nat t hey could be

pl a.ying wit

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the i r l i ves .

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. p eop l e hav e d io m genuous l y asked w h a t I me t when I

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Id t ha t so l dl B r s wo ul d t ire

o n t lo se who were lI actl ng s uspi ciou s lyn. I t w as clebP f rom the context. of

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r6narks t hcJ.t "a cting suspicious ly"

r el at e d to circums t ances in w hich fi re- arms or explosives

mi ght be ûsed ^. T he man who carri âd a b o mb w hic h was t.o br. ing dea th, in,jury ând destruction to the pr ingfield R o ad l ast ni ght would , had he b een seen i n t i m e , h ave been

the so rt of t ar get t he A rmy and I h ad in m i nd w hen I made

yes terday' s stat em ent .

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Note:

Mr. Williams called at 2.30 thls afternoon and, in pu r suance of the undertaking given by trn British

Ambassador thi s morning, handed me the attache d letter e nclosing the text of the two British rmy statements In Belfa st and the text of a further statement by Mr.

Faulkner.

Mr. Williams said that Lord Balniel would be taking a Private Notice Question in the British House of Commons addressed to him by Mr. Kevin McNamara. While Mr.

Williams could not say what reply Lord Balniel would give in Parliament, he could tell me the pOints that were being put up to Lord Balniel by hi s officials.

The points were as follows:-

i) troops open fire if there is a threat to their lives or the lives of those for whom they are responsible;

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they always try to giv8

~arAibgsc'not

warning shots) whenever pos sib le;

iil) common law requires the use of the minlmum

amount of force.

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DFA/5

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Department of Foreign Affairs

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iv) there has been no change in inst r uctions to the troops _ only a change in

circumstances.

I thanked Mr. 1t.J1lliams for t h. ts information and told him that there had already been an effort by Depu t y Cl uskey t o rais e the matter in the Dail this morning and i t w as bound to arise on the Taoiseach's Questi on this a fternoon.