A motion condemning the decision to retain two convicted murderers in the British Army was passed unanimiously in Dail Eireann, the Irish parliament, last night. (13.12.00) Speaking in the Dail on Wednesday night, Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen described the decision to retain two Scots Guards as "deplorable". He said: "Officials of my department have maintained contact with representatives of the McBride family. On the day the army board decision was made public I conveyed to Mrs McBride my disappointment at the decision to retain the two guardsmen as well as my sympathy for the family." Meanwhile, Peter McBride's mother has begun moves to mount another legal challenge to the army's decision. Mrs Jean McBride, mother of Peter, has applied for a judicial review in the High Court in Belfast of the decision not to discharge the soldiers. Leave to apply for the judicial review was granted last week and a preliminary hearing will take place on December 19.
The two soldiers were sentenced to life imprisonment but were freed after serving only six years. Mrs McBride's solicitors, Madden and Finucane, are seeking a declaration that the MoD's decision is in breach of Queen's Regulations which state it is mandatory to discharge soldiers imprisoned by a civil court, unless there are exceptional reasons. "No exceptional reasons exist justifying departure from the mandatory regulation," the solicitors claim in papers lodged in court.
The papers go on to attack the MoD and Army Board by stating: "Their lack of censure not only enhances the risk that the Guardsmen will murder again but also affords them the opportunity to do so by providing them with weapons." The papers claim that in the past 10 years 2,002 soldiers have been disharged under Queen's Regulations - the vast majority if not all for lesser offences than murder.
A spokesperson for the Pat Finucane Centre said, "The only occasions whereby soldiers convicted of murder have benefited from the 'exceptional circumstances' clause have been where the victim was Irish. This demonstrates the underlying racisim behind this decision. The Army Board ruling has now been condemned by all the parties in Dail Eireann and the majority of elected representatives in the Northern assembly. We are confident that the Army Board ruling will be overturned."