PROVISIONAL IRA AND THE SAFETY OF THE MCCLOSKEY FAMILY

Early day motion 1774, tabled 17 October 2002 by Harry Barnes (Labour). Signed by 13 members.

That this House condemns the forcible expulsion of Joseph McCloskey, his wife and six children from Derry due to a Provisional IRA death threat in April 2001; notes that the McCloskey family is still in exile in England and that his mother Bridie McCloskey has also received warnings of a PIRA death threat against her; acknowledges a meeting in the Palace of Westminster between the honourable Member for North East Derbyshire and Mr McCloskey and the President of Sinn Fein at which the honourable Member for West Belfast promised to investigate the issue; and calls upon Sinn Fein to expedite this investigation, bearing in mind the requirements of the McCloskey family for a meeting which the IRA, in the presence of a priest of the family's own choosing and for a short and clear public statement from the PIRA that the whole of the McCloskey family are no longer in any danger from them; and believes that the exile of the McCloskey family is a salutary reminder that about 3,000 people remain on the run mainly from the Provisional IRA and that all those exiled under paramilitary death sentences can and should be allowed to return to Northern Ireland.

Signatures by party: Labour 9, UUP 3, Conservative 1.