Labour warns of `bad faith' on prison releases

The Government could be accused by unionists of a "gross act of bad faith" with the Belfast Agreement if it does not legislate on the question of prisoner releases, the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, has claimed.

He was commenting after the Minister for the Marine, Dr Woods, indicated in the Dail that the Government would not be introducing legislation on the issue.

Mr Quinn said replies given to him by Dr Woods had confirmed his suspicions that there was no intention to legislate. He claimed this was "totally unacceptable" under what had been negotiated in the Belfast Agreement.

This was "a highly-serious issue", Mr Quinn said, and the Republic's actions would be seized upon by the agreement's opponents in the North.

"Failure to enact legislation could be presented as a gross act of bad faith on the part of the authorities in the Republic and could damage future relations between the two sides."

Both Mr Quinn and the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, had raised the matter in the Dail. Deputising for the Taoiseach, who was in Cardiff, Dr Woods said "all advice at the moment is that it will not be necessary to bring forward legislation".

He added that Mr Ahern would be briefing party leaders on the matter and intended discussing it with them. He would be writing to them "in the next day or so".

Mr Quinn said later that he had no idea what Mr Ahern would be saying to him. "But I will be pressing the Government to copper fasten what is in the agreement with legislation."

The Belfast Agreement commits both governments to put in place mechanisms for accelerated re lease of prisoners affiliated to organisations maintaining unequivocal ceasefires. It also promises that Dublin and London "will seek to enact the appropriate legislation to give effect to these arrangements by the end of June 1998".

Mr Quinn said it was arguable that the wording of this clause gave the Government an "out" from the absolute necessity to legislate. But he said any straightforward reading of the document suggested otherwise. "I clearly understood the legislation would be enacted."

Even if it was argued that existing legislation in different areas was adequate to deal with the release programme, there was an argument for consolidating legislation, he added.