Paisley demands
Eamon Phoenix
At a meeting with the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Mr William Whitelaw, at Stormont Castle in December 1972, the Rev Ian Paisley demanded drastic security measures including military courts, capital punishment and the "domination" of nationalist areas by the British army.
He also seemed open to the creation of a Council of Ireland in return for Dublin recognition of Northern Ireland's UK status.
Dr Paisley told the secretary of state at a meeting on December 19th, 1972, it was not a time for discussion about the future. The real issue at present was the survival of Northern Ireland as a community. Since direct rule there had been no significant change in the security situation. He would much rather, therefore, press hard for immediate action in the security field than discuss the government's Green Paper on the future governance of Northern Ireland. Dr Paisley said he believed there would be a spate of murders in the near future and that the country was on the brink of anarchy. He called, therefore, for very firm actions to deal with the situation.
For his part, the secretary of state said that he was extremely worried about assassinations and detection was proving difficult. Dr Paisley said that they were facing an emergency situation. "A breed of compulsive killers is being raised, and to combat this, drastic measures are needed." He suggested capital punishment should be brought in, not only for murder but for intent to kill, carrying guns, explosives, etc illegally. He also called for corporal punishment for young hooligans. In his view, "Some leaders of the Protestant community were now preaching sedition, some judges cracking under the strain, and the time had arrived to consider military courts."
The DUP leader said he appreciated that there was a shortage of manpower and he asked, therefore, if some form of civil defence force could be established to supplement the army and police. Mr Whitelaw said many more recruits were required for the police reserve.
Dr Paisley urged that the Kilwee and Tunnel areas of Portadown and the Drumarg estate in Armagh should be "cleared out by the army and dominated by them. In such circumstances, the flow of information would be dramatically increased as had happened in other Catholic ghetto areas." On the government's forthcoming reform proposals, Dr Paisley warned that if the White Paper were to indicate "any weakness in the constitutional link with Great Britain", this would push certain elements to the brink. By "weakness" he meant, for example, the idea of a Council of Ireland being established while the Republic continued to claim jurisdiction over the North.
He told Mr Whitelaw that, unless the Republic disclaimed such jurisdiction, "the elements in Northern Ireland, led by people like William Craig (the Vanguard leader) would resort to violence. These elements wanted a 'confrontation' and this proposal would provide them with an excuse". In conclusion, Dr Paisley suggested a Border poll should precede publication of the White Paper.