£76,000 for IRA prisoners scandalous, says Robinson

More than 200 IRA prisoners in the Maze received a total of £76,000 in compensation for loss or damage to their property during last year's failed tunnel escape from the prison, the Democratic Unionist Party's deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, has disclosed.

He said the contrast between the "pittance" awarded to Ms Michelle Williamson, whose parents were killed in the IRA Shankill Road bombing of 1993, and the substantial sums paid to the IRA inmates "for the loss of their pyjamas and slippers" was "appalling and scandalous". Ms Williamson, the DUP disclosed earlier this week, was offered about £2,000 to cover the funeral costs.

She received notification of her final award two weeks ago, almost five years after the bombing, while the IRA awards were paid just over a year after the failed tunnel escape in March of last year.

Mr Robinson said the prisoners included those involved in the actual escape attempt. Individual awards ranged from around £100 to more than £3,000 for lost, damaged or confiscated property. He said the total was almost £60,000, although prison sources told The Irish Times the total was £76,000.

The highest individual payment was £3,100, with several other prisoners receiving more than £1,000. News of the payments came on the same day that five more prisoners, all serving life sentences for murder, were released under the terms of the Belfast Agreement.

The IRA prisoners who received compensation included the Shankill bomber, Sean Kelly. He received an award of about £120, according to prison sources. "Not only did the terrorists receive more money than Michelle Williamson - the victim - but their claims were settled quicker," Mr Robinson said.

The awards paid were preposterous, he said. "How could a prisoner have over £3,000 of personal effects in his cell? The compensation was paid for items claimed to have been `lost' when prisoners were moved from the block in which they had tunnelled to other accommodation," Mr Robinson said.

In a statement, the Northern Ireland Prison Office said that while the tunnel was discovered under H-Block 7, comprehensive searches of three other IRA blocks were also carried out during the operation, resulting in loss and damage to certain property. Compensation was calculated under the strict procedures laid down, the statement added.

Mr Robinson said the British government cared more for the paramilitaries than their victims. "Morality and probity have been outlawed by this government. Decency is punished and evil rewarded. The government reviles and punishes those who stand for righteousness and embraces those who represent villainy and evildoing."