Downing Street Says » Northern Ireland

» Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Northern Ireland

Asked if the discovery of another listening device in an office belonging to Sinn Fein would have an impact on the talks at Leeds Castle which were due to begin on Thursday, the PMOS said that it wasn’t our practice to comment on such matters. The Leeds Castle talks related to issues which the Prime Minister had identified two years ago, namely decommissioning, an end to paramilitarism and a complete commitment to power-sharing in that environment.

2 Comments »

I seem to remember the government making plenty of comments when the IRA were accused of bugging unionists but now that it appears that the Sinn Fein offices were bugged they have ‘no comment on such matters’.

No party can be proud of their behaviour in Northern Ireland, including the UK Government, and things will not improve while any group tries to keep up the pretence that they have done nothing wrong.

If the bugs were not placed by Government agents then come straight out and say it. If they were, then provide an explanation and then appologise for abuse of powers in a supposedly democratic society.
Comment by Uncarved Block — 15 Sep 2004 on 4:51 pm | Link
What’s he going to say?

"Oops, yes, very sorry about that. That was one of our bugs."

Just because there’s a bug there, doesn’t mean it belonged to unionists. 🙂
Comment by Gregory Block — 16 Sep 2004 on 10:55 am | Link

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