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Northern Ireland: Massereene Army Base

My Lords, I express my sympathy to the families of the two soldiers who were tragically killed and wish to let the families know that we in Northern Ireland admire very much what their sons were doing and how much we abhor what has happened. There is widespread distaste at what occurred at the weekend across the whole of Northern Ireland, in both communities. However, one has to say that there seems to have been a lack of security at Massereene barracks. We should not hesitate to say that. There had been a severe warning, and what kind of security existed at the barracks at that time must be fully investigated. On the same day, 30 young policemen were killed in Baghdad. So often it is the same pattern: they were congregating or queuing up outside the entrance to a police station in Baghdad. That seems to occur so regularly in Iraq. The trouble is that in a situation in which there is a serious threat from the Real IRA, you should not be meeting or congregating outside barracks or police stations. An incident such as this gives a resolve to politicians from all parties to ensure that the Belfast agreement proceeds successfully in Northern Ireland. However, at the same time, there is an adverse effect that must be a warning. People are concerned and become more divided when instances such as this happen. The one message that I got in Northern Ireland today, mainly from the unionist community, was that they were told that the Provisional IRA had done away with all its firearms and explosives. This new Real IRA has Semtex—and now we see that it as automatic weapons. Was that Semtex and were those automatic weapons owned previously by the Provisional IRA, or has the Real IRA imported into Northern Ireland new explosives and new automatic weapons?