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Of outrage and misunderstanding: Ireland v United Kingdom – governmental perspectives on an inter-state application under the European Convention on Human Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David Bonner
David Bonner*
Affiliation:
University of Leicester
*
David Bonner, University of Leicester, School of Law, The University, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. Email: david.bonner@leicester.ac.uk
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Abstract

This examination of this case from the perspectives afforded by State Papers in the respective National Archives shows the anger felt in British political and official circles reflected in its reaction, strategy and tactics. It illuminates the roles of the Commission of Human Rights in seeking to effect a friendly settlement. The case enabled Ireland at relatively little cost to do, and to be very visibly seen to be doing, something to help the Nationalist minority community in Northern Ireland, thus fulfilling a role as its protector and assuaging an outraged Irish public opinion, while furthering just governance in Northern Ireland and promoting unification by consent.

Type
Research Article
Information
Legal Studies , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 47 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Legal Scholars 2014

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported by Research Leave from the University of Leicester and a British Academy Small Grant. The author also thanks helpful staff in the National Archives of each state party at Kew (‘NA’) and Dublin (‘NAI’).

References

Notes

1. (1979–1980) 2 EHRR 25.

2. Ibid, paras 165–168. ‘Interrogation in depth’ is shorthand for the application in combination to certain internees questioned of five ancillary ‘disorientation’ or ‘sensory deprivation’ techniques (in modern parlance, ‘conditioning’). See paras 96–107.

3. Ibid, paras 188–221.

4. Ibid, paras 225–235.

5. Ibid, para 165.

6. Ibid, para 148 and passim.

7. See Dickson, B The European Convention on Human Rights and the Conflict in Northern Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010) pp 61–68, 146–153CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8. Schabas, W and O'Sullivan, A ‘Of politics and poor weather: how Ireland decided to sue the United Kingdom under the European Convention on Human Rights’ (2007) 2 Irish Yb Int'l Law 3.Google Scholar

9. Keogh, D Jack Lynch: A Biography (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 2009);Google Scholar FitzGerald, G All in a Life: An Autobiography (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1991).Google Scholar.

10. See Jacobs, F The European Convention on Human Rights (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975) pp 1–9 Google Scholar.

11. Twenty-three applications dealt with eight separate disputes. Only three resulted in judgments of the Court. See http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/5D5BA416-1FE0-4414-95A1-AD6C1D77CB90/0/Requêtes_interétatiques_EN.pdf (accessed 4 April 2012); Greer, S The European Convention on Human Rights; Achievements, Problems and Prospects (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) pp 24–28;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Prebensen, S ‘Inter-state complaints under treaty provisions – the experience under the European Convention on Human Rights’ (1999) 20 Hum Rts L J 446.Google Scholar.

12. Bloomfield, K A Tragedy of Errors: The Government and Misgovernment of Northern Ireland (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2007) pp 8–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13. Ibid, p 19; Bloomfield, K Stormont in Crisis: A Memoir (Belfast: The Blackstaff Press, 1994) pp 116–119.Google Scholar.

14. Baston, L Reggie: The Life of Reginald Maudling (Stroud: Sutton, 2004) ch 20.Google Scholar.

15. Keogh, , above 10, ch 7.Google Scholar

16. NAI DFA 2002/20/7 (note of meeting, 5 January 1971).

17. Keogh, , above 10, ch 9.Google Scholar

18. Ibid, pp 173, 180, 185, 288.

19. Ibid, pp 189–192.

20. Ibid, pp 150–151.

21. Ibid, pp 314–315; Peck, J Dublin from Downing Street (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1978) pp 129–134.Google Scholar.

22. Keogh, above 10, p 299.

23. Heath, E The Course of My Life (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1998) pp 423–424, 430–432.Google Scholar.

24. See eg NA CAB 130/522 (Meeting 19 of Cabinet Committee GEN 47).

25. See Keogh, above 10, pp 267–270.

26. Simpson, A Human Rights and the End of Empire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) pp 309–310, 491–492, 934–935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

27. Bloomfield, , above 13, pp 46–49 Google Scholar; Fisk, R The Point of No Return: The Strike which Broke the British in Ulster (London: Deutsch, 1975).Google Scholar.

28. Boyle, K, Hadden, T and Hillyard, P Ten Years On in Northern Ireland: The Legal Control of Political Violence (London: The Cobden Trust, 1980) ch 4.Google Scholar.

29. FitzGerald, , above 10, chs 16, 17Google Scholar; Bloomfield, , above 13, pp 58–67.Google Scholar

30. See inter alia McKittrick, D and McVea, D Making Sense of the Troubles (London: Penguin, rev edn, 2001)Google Scholar; Cox, M A Farewell to Arms? Beyond the Good Friday Agreement (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006)Google Scholar; Powell, J Great Hatred: Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland (London: Bodley Head, 2008)Google Scholar; Bloomfield, , above 13, ch 5.Google Scholar.

31. Bloomfield, ibid, p 257.

32. FitzGerald, above 10, chs 6–11;Keogh, above 10, ch 10.

33. Keogh, above 10, pp 402–409.

34. Simpson, above 27, chs 11–15; Lester, A ‘Fundamental rights: the United Kingdom isolated?’ [1984] PL 46;Google Scholar Schabas, W ‘Ireland, the European Convention on Human Rights and the personal contribution of Sean MacBride’ in Morison, J, McEvoy, K and Anthony, G (eds) Judges, Transition and Human Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) pp 251–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

35. Lester, above 35, pp 58–61.

36. Schabas and O'Sullivan, above 9, p 4.

37. Simpson, above 27, chs 18, 19.

38. (1994) 78-A DR 5.

39. Harris, D, O'Boyle, M and Warbrick, C Law of the European Convention on Human Rights (London: Butterworths, 1995) pp 81–82 (9).Google Scholar.

40. Lawless v Ireland (No. 1) (1979–1980) 1 EHRR 1; (No. 2) (1979–1980) 1 EHRR 13; (No. 3) (1979–1980) 1 EHRR 15.

41. NA CAB 130/522 (Meeting 2 of Cabinet Committee GEN 47); FCO 33/1464 (Fifoot memo 2, August 1971; note to News Department, 4 October 1971); FCO 41/787 (re McMillen v United Kingdom application).

42. NAI DFA 2002/19/427 MFA Hillery to Lynch (26 August 1969).

43. Schabas and O'Sullivan, above 9, pp 8–9.

44. Greece v United Kingdom (the First and Second Cyprus Cases) (1958–1959) 2 Yb ECHR 174, 178; Austria v Italy (1962) 4 Yb ECHR 116; Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands v Greece (the Greek Case) (1968) 12 Yb ECHR bis 690.

45. Greece v United Kingdom, above 45.

46. The Greek Case, above 45.

47. Janis, M, Kay, R and Bradley, A European Human Rights Law: Text and Materials (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995) pp 31, 70.Google Scholar,

48. Schabas, above 35.

49. Schabas and O'Sullivan, above 9, p 29.

50. Ibid, p 24.

51. NA CJ4/1614 folio 27.

52. Dail Debates, col 907 in NAI DT/2002/8/495 (1 December 1971).

53. NAI DT/2002/8/487 (note of meeting dated 29 August); Keogh, above 10, pp 317–318.

54. NAI DFA/2003/13/6 (report of the meeting)

55. Schabas and O'Sullivan, above 9, pp 17–18.

56. Above 2, para 99.

57. NAI DT/2003/16/493, 20 October, note from Ambassador Peck to Hugh McCann, Sec DFA.

58. NAI DT/2002/8/494, 16 November 1971.

59. NAI DFA/2003/17/304, 29 November 1971.

60. NAI DFA/2003/17/304 (report of the meeting).

61. NA FCO 87/136, guidance tel 284 [FCO 061055Z]; NA FCO 87/138 folio 122, Thorpe to Blatherwick (2 June 1972); FCO 87/139, letter from Sir Stewart Crawford, PS FCO to Ambassador Peck in Dublin (21 July 1972).

62. Rawlinson, P A Price Too High: An Autobiography (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989) p 228.Google Scholar.

63. NA CAB 130/633 (Cabinet Committee on Northern Ireland, Meeting 10).

64. NAI DT/2002/8/495, 18 November: McCann to MFA and to Nolan.

65. NA FCO 87/138 folio 89: note of meeting of Fifoot (UK legal adviser) with the President and Secretary of the Commission.

66. NA FCO 87/136 (note of meeting on 12 January 1972).

67. Above n 66; NA FCO 87/137, letter (20 March) from PMH to HS and the HS minute (18 March); FCO 87/136 folios 32, 33 (18 February 1972).

68. NA FCO 87/138 folio 105 (counsel's Opinion).

69. NA FCO 87/140 folio 196 (letter from Sir Stewart Crawford, PS FCO to Ambassador Peck in Dublin).

70. NA FCO 87/143 (departmental paper, November 1972, para 17).

71. Ibid, para 22.

72. NA FCO 87/143 (discussions around that paper).

73. NA FCO 87/146 folio 441: letter, 5 December 1972, NIO (Cox to Howard-Drake).

74. NA FCO 87/144 folio 416: letter, 21 November 1972, Attorney General's Office (De Winton) to NIO (Cox).

75. NA FCO 87/146 folio 439.

76. NA CJ 4/594 folio 100: letter, 3 August 1972 (AG's office (Fullerton) to NIO (Drake).

77. NA CJ 4/594: note of informal meeting between Commission delegates and certain representatives of the parties, 25 November 1973.

78. NA CAB 134/3796; Cabinet Committee on Northern Ireland, Meeting 1 and accompanying paper from NIO.

79. NA CJ 4/594 folio 2 (30 November 1973).

80. NA CJ 4/601 folio 20: telex, 23 January 1974, Irish Agent (Hayes) to Commission Secretary (McNulty).

81. NA CJ 4/594 folio 81: letter, 5 November 1973, AG's Office (De Winton) to FCO Agent Strasbourg (Fifoot).

82. NA TS 58/1164 (note of consultation with counsel, 1 August 1974).

83. NA CJ4/1258 folios 9, 16.

84. NA CAB 134/3796; Cabinet Committee on Northern Ireland, Meeting 1 and accompanying paper from NIO.

85. NA CJ 4/588 folio 100.

86. Cabinet Committee, above 85.

87. NA CJ 4/601 folio 72.

88. NA PREM 15/2141 tel 119, 30 May: FS to British Ambassador with Heath's message to Cosgrave.

89. NA FCO 87/144 folio 418 British Embassy Dublin to FCO.

90. NA PREM 15/2141, letter, 23 May, FCO to No. 10.

91. NAI DT/2004/21/471 (Quigley minute, 5 June 1973, to AG Costello and Costello's letter, 6 June 1973, to MFA FitzGerald).

92. Foreign Secretary's telegram, above 89.

93. Ibid.

94. NA PREM 15/2141: Ambassador's tel 290 to FCO, 6 June 1973.

95. Ibid: note of meeting at 11 am on 13 June 1973.

96. Ibid: letter, 14 June, from FCO (Alexander) to Cabinet Secretary (Armstrong).

97. Ibid: letter, 15 June, from No. 10 (Roberts) to FCO (Alexander).

98. Ibid: minute to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from Permanent Under-Secretary NIO (Cooper), 20 July; telex, 29 June, from Irish Agent (Hayes) to Commission Secretary (McNulty).

99 . Ibid: Cooper's minute (27 July); letter FCO (Grattan) to No. 10 (Roberts) copies to AG, NIO and MOD.

100. On this fear, see NAI DT/2005/7/658; DT/151/703.

101. Above 95: tel 001, 4 August, PM in Ottawa to Ambassador Dublin, copy to FCO.

102. Ibid: tel 418 (Ambassador to FCO), 20 August 1973.

103. Ibid: FCO (Alexander) to Cabinet Secretary (Armstrong), 24 September 1973; NAI DT/2004/21/471.

104. Ibid: FCO (Alexander) to Cabinet Secretary (Armstrong), 26 September 1973, plus reply to Cosgrave – tel 221 (FCO to Ambassador), Dublin; tel 515 (Ambassador Dublin) to FCO, both 27 September 1973.

105. Ibid: sent 24 September but received after the discussion with the Acting President on 25 September.

106. Ibid; and tel 515 (Ambassador Dublin) to FCO, 27 September 1973.

107. NA CJ4/591 folio 76, tel 419 Ambassador (Dublin) to FCO; CJ4/592 folio 143 (Amb Tels 540, 541).

108. NA TS 58/1164 (meeting at NIO, 13 November 1973) still took the view that Cosgrave favoured settlement, but AG Costello wanted some form of public condemnation for future use.

109. Above 95: FCO to No. 10, 28 September 1973.

110. Later material pointed out, for example, that internment was necessary in part because of the ability to flee over the Border: see NA CJ4/597 folio 64 (meeting at NIO, 11 December 1974).

111. Unless otherwise stated, material in this section is taken from the unpublished Commission Report Annex III found in NA CJ4/1256.

112. NA CAB 130/633 (meeting 10 and Paper 23 from Foreign Secretary Douglas-Home). See also NA FCO 87/143 folio 335 for further discussion of non-cooperation and withdrawal options.

113. NAI DT/2005/7/608 (14 June 1974: AG Costello memo to Cosgrave on earlier approaches in May and June).

114. NA FCO 87/991 folio 389; CJ 4/1262 folios 16 (Burns to Milne, 22 August 1975), 36 (10 September 1975), 43, 45, 46 (15 and 16 September 1975).

115. NA FCO 87/977 folios 3 (draft brief for FS meeting his Irish counterpart), 8 (communications within NIO).

116. Ibid, folio 8.

117. Ibid, folios 13, 14, 16.

118. FCO 87/978 folio 37 (letter SSNI Rees to PM Wilson, 10 February 1976).

119. NA CJ 4/1262 folio 6A (minute to PM by Stanley Orme, Minister of State, Nio, 18 August 1975 – report of interdepartmental meeting, 14 August 1975; FCO 87/978 folio 32, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Rees to AG Silkin (4 February 1976).

120. NA FCO 87/978 folio 36, 10 February 1976.

121. NA FCO 87/978 folio 40 PM's Parliamentary Private Secretary Wright to NIO, 11 February 1976.

122. NA FCO 87/978 folio 37 (para 3, Minute SSNI Rees to PM Wilson, 10 February 1976).

123. NA FCO 87/978 folio 32 (SSNI Rees letter to AG Silkin, 4 February 1976).

124. NA FCO 87/979 folio 64 (briefing note for PM Wilson's meeting with Cosgrave on 5 March 1976).

125. NIO briefing note for PM, above 125; NAI DFA/2005/15/715; note of the conversation, dated 4 December 1975.

126. NIO briefing note for PM, above 125; see also NA FCO 87/977 folio 3.

127. NAI DT/2006/133/706, AG's Opinion for the Taoiseach (18 February 1976). The point is implicit in the UK documentation.

128. NIO briefing note for PM, above 125.

129. NA FCO 87/977 folio 16 (FCO minute from Fifoot, copied to NIO); FCO 87/978 folios 32 (letter from SSNI Rees to AG Silkin, 4 February 1976, copied to the IRN Cabinet Committee), 34 (AG Silkin's reply, 6 February 1976).

130. NA FCO 87/977 folio 17 (note of meeting in NIO, 22 January 1976).

131. Ibid, folios 3 (FCO Briefing Paper for FS), 14 (note of meeting in NIO, 22 January 1976).

132. As noted in NAI DT 2006/133/706 (note of the meeting), it had shown a British soldier going by in a coffin, with Mr Wilson going in the opposite direction saying he could not go to the funeral because he had instead to talk with the murderers. He had, of course, to the anger of the Irish Government, met with IRA leaders in Dublin in March 1972: see Keogh, above 12, p 334.

133. NA FCO 87/979 folio 64.

134. Ibid, AG's Opinion (18 February 1976).

135. Ibid, AG Memo to be included in Taoiseach's brief for 5 March meeting.

136. Ibid, document dated 20 June 1976.

137. Ibid, dated 2 September 1976.

138. NA FCO 87/978 folio 60, tel 99, 10 March 1976.

139. FitzGerald, above 10, p 283.

140. NA FCO 87/979 folio 72, Weston FCO to Wright at No. 10, 11 March 1976.

141. NA PREM 16/975, FCO tel 42, PM to Ambassador in Dublin, 12 March 1976.

142. Above 141, folio 72.

143. Ibid, folio 69, tel 105, 13 March 1976.

144. Ibid, folio 70, tel 106, 13 March 1976.

145. NAI DFA 2006/133/706 (3 September 1976).

146. NA FCO 87/979 folio 69, tel 105.

147. NA FCO 87/979 folio 70, tel 106, 13 March 1976.

148. Ireland v United Kingdom, Judgment of the Court, 18 February 1978, Series A, para 7.

149. NAI DT 2006/133/706 (Opinion of 18 February 1976 sent to the Taoiseach).

150. Above 149, paras 4, 5.

151. Ibid, paras 8, 9.

152. NA FCO 87/977 folio 16 (internal FCO minute from Fifoot).

153. NA FCO 87/978 folio 52 (4 March 1976).

154. Above, 149, paras 8, 148; NA CJ 4/1614 folios 3, 33 (Wilson to Baird, NI Police Authority, 4 April 1977).

155. NA CJ4/1614 folios 6 (Treasury Solicitor to Anderson, FCO), 8 (Janes to Wilson), 12 (Anderson to Treasury Solicitor).

156. NA FCO 87/983 folio 197.

157. See: NA CAB 134/4039 (meeting of ministerial committee on Northern Ireland, IN (76), 28 October 1976); NA FCO 87/983 folios 201, 212; NA FCO 87/984 folio 224; NA FCO 87/395 folio 253; NA FCO 87/990 folios 359, 360; NA FCO 87/991 folio 377.

158. NA FCO 87/986 folio 316.

159. NA PREM 16/1725 (correspondence between SSNI Rees and PM Callaghan, 7 and 8 September 1976; Ambassador (Dublin) tels 392, 393, 5 October 1976).

160. Ibid, Tel 343, Ambassador (Dublin) to FCO, 2 September 1976.

161. NA DEFE 68/152 folio 1 (Bevan minute, 18 January 1977).

162. NA CAB 164/1435 folio 5 (tel 10, 2 February 1977, from Foster, UK Delegation, Strasbourg).

163. Ibid, folio 6 (tel 11, 2 February 1977, from Foster, UK Delegation, Strasbourg).

164. NA PREM 16/1725, papers covering 12 October to 25 November 1976 and minute from Permanent Secretary at FCO to No. 10, 21 January 1977.

165. NA CJ 4/1612 folios 34ff, including text of the proposed Joint Statement.

166. Ibid.

167. NA PREM 16/1725, 25 March 1977 (AG's report to PM).

168. NAI AG 2007/28/298.

169. NA CJ 4/1612 folios 20, 21.

170. Above 168, tels 392, 393, Ambassador [Dublin] to FCO, 5 October 1976.

171. NA FCO 87/986 folio 320 (draft reply from SSNI to MP).

172. NA CJ 4/1612 folio 57.

173. NA PREM 16/1725, papers covering 12 October to 25 November 1976.

174. NA FCO 87/986 folio 319. See above 2, paras 150–155 for the Court's rejection of this approach.

175. Ibid.

176. NA PREM 16/1725, correspondence 31 March 1977 to 25 April 1977.

177. Ibid, minute from Sir John Hunt, 5 April 1977.

178. Ibid, letter from MOD, 12 April 1977; Lord Parker of Waddington, Report of the Committee of Privy Counsellors Appointed to Consider Authorised Procedures for the Interrogation of Persons Suspected of Terrorism (Cmnd 4901, 1972), para 12 (majority report), para 8 (Lord Gardiner's dissenting report).

179. Above 2, para 97.

180. NA PREM 16/1725, AG minute to PM, 11 May 1977.

181. Above 2, para 148.

182. NA CJ 4/2076 folio 8.

183. NAI DT/2008/148/741.

184. NA CJ 4/2074 folio 45C.

185. NA CJ 4/2078.

186. Above 185, folio 67.

187. Minute, above 181.

188. NA CJ 4/2076: Res CM (78) 35.

189. See text to nn 51–56.

190. Schabas and O'Sullivan, above 9, p 29.

191. NAI DT/2003/16/472, Lynch's speech to Fianna Fail Ard Fheis, 19 February 1972.

192. Dickson, above 8, and sources cited therein.

193. See eg Saadi v Italy (2009) 49 EHRR 730, para. 127.

194. Dickson, above 8, and sources cited therein.

195. Selmouni v France (1996) 29 EHRR 403; Ovey, C and White, R The European Convention on Human Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 5th edn, 2010) pp 171–172.Google Scholar

196. Joint Select Committee on Human Rights, UN Convention against Torture: Discrepancies in Evidence Given to the Committee about the Use of Prohibited Interrogation Techniques in Iraq (2007–2008, HL 157, HC 527) 6–7; the Report of the Gage Inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa in British Custody in Iraq (HC 1452-I-III), available at http://www.bahamousainquiry.org/linkedfiles/baha_mousa/report/2011-09-08-chairmansstatement.pdf (accessed 22 January 2013).