SAOIRSE32

News Letter
30 December 2008

LOYALIST prisoners assisted IRA inmates on the dirty protest, by passing through to them parcels from outside the prison, according to a 1978 NIO paper.

An internal memo dated September 1, 1978, reported on the situation in H6, where the protests were focused.

It said that H6’s spirits were being maintained with a campaign of support in H3, H4 and H5.

In response to the protests, prisoners were denied privileges, however.

This included prison visits and parcels from the outside.

But the memo by an NIO prisons official said: I understand that for a day or two republican prisoners had parcels sent to them, via loyalist prisoners (also housed) in H6.

“The fact that there were loyalist prisoners willing to co-operate in this way is interesting, in view of allegations being only a few weeks ago that all loyalists were so frightened of the republicans (who outnumbered them) that they felt unable to go to the dining halls to eat prison meals.”

NIO officials were meeting loyalist representatives to hear their concerns, during May and June.

The files indicate civil servants’ distrust and dislike for loyalist Hugh Smyth and loyalist women who were protesting at conditions in the prisons.

They also privately accused them of using the threat of violence, in meetings with NIO Minister Don Concannon and others.

And they believed loyalist inmates were being pressurised by their families to step-up protests in the prisons, ahead of meetings between relatives and government.

Inside the Crumlin and the Maze, UVF and Red Hand Commando (as well as UDA) members were seeking segregation from republicans, at meal times and during recreation.

Heavily outnumbered, on most wings or H Blocks, they said they feared attack and feared for their lives.

On May 23, 1978, Ian Paisley led a delegation of loyalist prisoners’ wives to meet Minister Concannon, who had responsibility for the jails.

The NIO records reveal government suspicion of the Paisley group.

A briefing paper on the day before the meeting told Minister Concannon: “The Deputy Governor (at the Maze) feels that over the weekend, during visits, Protestant prisoners were put under great pressure, through their families from the outside…

“I would imagine this heating up of the loyalist protests in favour of segregation, is not unconnected with the Minister’s meeting (with Paisley and co) tomorrow.”

The Paisley delegation claimed mistreatment of Protestant inmates, and lesser treatment than Catholics.

They met Minister Concannon at Stormont Castle and prisoners’ wives or relatives took turns to speak.

The NIO record was not just a minute of the meeting, but analysed the participants.

One woman was said to have “a stand point and demeanour which mirrored those of a certain well-known republican spokeswoman”.

Another, meanwhile, warned “murder will take place when the prison blows up”, if segregation was not brought in.

Yet another was “the best spoken” of the group but her reasoning “no less suspect than that of her termagant friends”.

She asked the Minister that if government could not integrate schools, how could they integrate prisons?

To which the NIO minute, suspiciously added, “strangely the identical arguments were put forward by Hugh Smyth” at another recent meeting.

And it was Hugh Smyth – today still a respected councillor and former Lord Mayor of Belfast – who was the subject of an NIO briefing note to Mr Concannon on May 16.

In it, the Minister’s private secretary advised his boss not to talk to the Shankill man, who was requesting a meeting.

“Our past experience,” said the civil servant, “is that when Mr Smyth has sought meetings with prison governors to cool a situation he has not been helpful.

“He does not contribute to constructive discussion, he has a curt manner, he twists the facts and he takes out of meetings what he wants to.

“Also he is likely to rush off to the media to publicise his account of proceedings.”

The advice was that Mr Smyth had a background of “extreme views” and was “affectionately know on the Shankill as ‘Super Prod’,” and therefore must be kept at arm’s length.

Mr Concannon accepted the advice and “ducked on a meeting”.