Close criticises Minister's comments

12.00.00am GMT Tue 30th Dec 1997

To express confidence in the management of a prison in which a prisoner has been murdered another dresses up as a woman and escapes and a prison officer falls into an escape tunnel and all this a space of some months is an insult to the people of Northern Ireland and an example of the contempt with which government would treat us, the people of Northern Ireland want to see some confidence building measures which will ensure that this society is not held to ransom by thugs and gangsters it is time that the ordinary decent citizens of Northern Ireland were treated with respect and put to the top of the agenda rather than being trampled on in a crazy search to curry favor with those who have besmirched society.

ENDS