Derry MLA Martina Anderson urges ex-internees to contact Tar Abhaile or their solicitor in wake of Gerry Adams ruling

She was speaking as Belfast solicitor Pádraig Ó Muirigh confirmed to the ‘Journal’ that letters of claim have been sent to the Crown Solicitor’s Office on the behalf of dozens of ex-prisoners from the city.

The move follows a UK Supreme Court ruling that Gerry Adams had been unlawfully detained because an interim custody order (ICO) authorising his detention had not been signed by the then Secretary of State Willie Whitelaw.

Ms. Anderson said: “I echo Gerry Adams’ call on the British government to identify and inform other internees whose internment may also have been unlawful.

“Internment, like all coercive measures, failed. There is an onus on the British government to identify and inform other internees whose internment may also have been unlawful. It’s estimated that between 1971 and 1975 around 2,000 people were detained without trial.”

One of those, ex-internee Martin McGilloway, agreed: people should come forward.

“If you were in that situation then go for it. At the end of the day there are men in their sixties and seventies now that are still probably feeling the effects from that time,” he said.

Ms. Anderson concurred: “I would urge any internee locally to get in contact with Tar Abhaile or their solicitor to check if there was proper authorisation by the relevant Secretary of State at the time of detention. Internment without trial had a deep impact on thousands of families, the history of our island, the effects of which we are still living with today all these years later.”