Keep an eye on Ulster 'crisis', Hoey warns Blair

Too many concessions have been made in the search for peace in Northern Ireland, a British former Labour minister said today as she called for more efforts to be made to track down terrorists in the North.

Ex-sports minister Kate Hoey warned Prime Minister Tony Blair not to take his eye off the situation in Ulster despite his support for action against international terrorism following the attacks in the US.

The Northern Ireland-born MP said the current situation in Ulster was ‘‘very, very bad’’.

She added: ‘‘If there wasn’t all this happening over the tragedy in America it would be headline news every day.’’

‘‘On the streets now in parts of Northern Ireland it is extremely bad, particularly in terms of sectarian violence from all sides - but also a fear around that the process is going down the pan.

‘‘I was a great supporter of the peace process but I do genuinely feel that we gave too much too quickly and I’m afraid that sometimes when you appease people, instead of moving more they ask for more.

‘‘I think it’s very important that the Prime Minister does not take his eye off the situation.’’

Ms Hoey also accused Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams of hypocrisy.

‘‘I heard Gerry Adams going on yesterday about terrorism and I felt like saying ‘well, find us the Omagh bombers’.

‘‘Here we had a huge tragedy in this country and we haven’t got one single person and yet we’re off looking in Afghanistan.’’

She also warned against a ‘‘knee-jerk’’ clampdown on civil liberties in the wake of the US terrorist attacks and called for a full debate on the introduction of compulsory ID cards.

She said: ‘‘Knee-jerk responses like we did after Dunblane - where we were supposed to be getting rid of illegal guns - it has done nothing except discriminate against legal, good decent citizens who went shooting.

‘‘This could be abused and I really hope we’re going to have a proper debate on it.’’