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Northern Ireland

It has been said that great grief is not great at talking. We know that. There is a silence in the House today; there is a silence all over Northern Ireland today. There is grieving and despair, but behind the despair there is being born a unity that we have not seen before. I am sure that the Secretary of State will want to commend the people of Antrim from all denominations who showed that they were one in condemnation and one in unity, standing together by the forces of the Crown and the police to bring those who have committed these murders to the laws of this land and to make them obey the laws of our country. I commend publicly here today the Roman Catholic priest of Antrim. He made one of the greatest speeches that I have ever heard from any of the cloth, and he set it down to everyone that he did not want in his parish anybody like the men who did that task. Those of us who know Northern Ireland know that it takes some strength to say those words in a place like Antrim, and I trust that we will see out of this something that we never expected we could see. I share the sentiments that have been expressed in sorrow for those who have laid down their lives. We are coming up to St. Patrick's day. St. Patrick preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in Ireland. I was just thinking today that the only thing that these murderers have done is to desecrate the shamrock by trying to pour the blood of their innocent victims upon it. But it will not be: the truth of the gospel will prevail. I am glad of that, and I am glad that today the House has taken aboard what has been said by the Secretary of State. I am glad that the Prime Minister was able to be in Ulster and see and hear for himself what is happening. Good will come out of this evil, and we will see progress towards an absolute peace in our Province, rather than a retrograde step back to trouble and murder.