International Powerful American politician urges U.K. toquit N. Ireland

Press, 23 April 1979, Page 8

International Powerful American politician urges U.K. toquit N. Ireland

NZPA-Reuter New York The Governor of New York (Mr I high Carey i has called for American action, including economic sanctions if necessary, to force British withdrawal from Northern Ireland.

Mr Carey’s call conies as a top American Congressional leader and confidant of President Jimmy Carter is visiting Northern Ireland on a trip seen by some as a prelude to an American in-! itiative to settle the prov-j ince’s unrest.

Governor Carey, in a statement to the news media in New York, said: “We should urge the British Government to develop and announce a strong plan for political and physical with-] drawal from Northern Ire-, land.”

i The statement was coauthored by the Governor’s chief health adviser and old friend Dr Kevin Cahill, and appeared in the New York “Daily News/’ a tabloid paper.

A spokesman for the Governor said the statement was written at Mr Carey’s initiation.

It said, in part: “If political encouragement and financial incentives do not succeed in strengthening Britain’s willingness to initiate moves towards peace, then the American Congress should seriously consider applying the same economic sanctions that are employed against Rhodesia, Russia and other nations for violations of human rights.” In 1977, during a four-day

tour of Ireland, Governor Carey called members of the Irish Republican Army “killers” and “Marxists.” He also said that Irish-Americans should stop supporting the ■group financially. j Britain’s major parties, (battling for power in a General Election campaign, have joined in a rare display of unity to condemn the United States Congressional leader. Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, for his comments on Northern Ireland. Mr O’Neill, third in line of succession to the Presidency land a prominent IrishAmerican politician, told a private Dublin dinner party that the troubled province was either used as a political football or given low priority in London.

Lord Hailsham, a leading Opposition Conservative, set the tone of the angry reaction to Mr O’Neill’s controversial comments. “I would say to him, and to Senator Edward Kennedy who has made similar comments in the past, that they should bear in mind Britain is also an independent country. “They do nothing but harm by their comments which they are trying to win a few Irish votes,” Lord Hailsham told reporters. Meanwhile, the Irish Nat-

ional Liberation Army, Marxist ally of the Irish Republican Army’s provisional wing, has said it — not the I.R.A. — was responsible for Thursday’s shooting in Armagh that killed a woman • prison officer and wounded • three others. I The dead woman was [ identified as Mrs Agnes Jean [Wallace, aged 40, mother of • six children. ; The little-known I.N.L.A. terrorist group last month: Claimed .it had killed Aireyl Neave, the Conservative Party spokesman on Northern Ireland. Mr Neave died on March 30 when a car bomb exploded as he was leaving Parliament. He was the most prominent British figure murdered by Irish terrorists since 1922 when Northern Ireland was partitioned from the Irish Republic. It is the first time in a decade of violence that women prison officers have been guerrilla targets. The I.N.L.A. statement said: “The attack was carried out in accordance with our policy of attacking all agents of the British occupation forces and as an act of solidarity with the women political prisoners in Armagh who have been on protest for political status for over two years.”