IRA REACTION:AN ACCOUNT of a late-night conversation between present First Minister Peter Robinson and a Stormont official in the wake of the IRA murder of Rev Robert Bradford MP is revealed in this year's Stormont releases.
At a security meeting at Stormont Castle on November 20th, 1981, the official, Ewart Bell, described how the then DUP deputy leader had called at his home on the previous evening to discuss the political situation. He called for the Border to be sealed off.
“The security forces should be free to go looking for the IRA. If they did not the Protestant people would go and do the job for them.”
Mr Robinson explained the purpose of his visit was to talk to “a fellow Ulsterman who had the ear of those in authority”.
He expressed his extreme concern about the mood of the Protestant people.
He saw the forthcoming “Day of Action” as a means of “letting off steam” but warned it would be only temporary if security advances were not made.
“If he or one of his fellow politicians were murdered the situation would boil over. There could be ‘war’ before Christmas.”
The DUP MP feared that the current Anglo-Irish talks meant that the British government was trying “to get rid of us by pushing us into an Irish Republic”.
Bell said this allowed him to place the talks in their proper perspective.
“The Stormont official felt that, while deeply concerned about Protestant anger, Mr Robinson wished ‘to calm the situation and to find a way forward, hence his interest in the Anglo-Irish scene’.”