Rev William McCrea
State papers released today have shown that a former DUP MP urged the British government to launch air strikes on a number of border areas, including Dundalk, in the 1980s.
Rev William McCrea wanted “Libyan-type strikes” against Dundalk, Drogheda, Crossmaglen and Carrickmore.
He made the call in April 1986, just days after the US government had unleashed air raids on Col Gaddafi’s regime.
The extraordinary demand is discussed in previously classified government papers.
The documents, held by the Public Record Office, are released today under the 30-year rule.
One memo reports on the DUP annual conference in Belfast on April 19, 1986.
Noel Cornick, an official at the NIO’s Political Affairs Division, wrote that staff from the division had not been welcome at the conference.
His briefing paper appears to be based on a mixture of press reports and gossip from party insiders.
It reports: “Rev William McCrea urged Libya-type strikes against Dundalk, Drogheda, Crossmaglen and Carrickmore.”
The memo notes that another senior DUP member, Gregory Campbell, made an “extravagant contribution” when he called for “even the foundations of Maryfield to be demolished”.
Maryfield was the Belfast base for officials from the Republic’s Department of Foreign Affairs.
They worked as a permanent secretariat for the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, a consultative body established after the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985.
However, the presence of civil servants from the Republic incensed unionists.
The conference report also noted that DUP opposition to the Agreement remained “as strong as ever, if not stronger”.
The main speech was given by Peter Robinson, in which he outlined two alternative solutions – negotiation or confrontation.
He said the latter would be “devastating, terrible and bloody”.
Rev McCrea’s calls for air strikes appeared to be inspired by the US raids on Libya four days previously.
At least 100 people died after planes bombed targets in the capital Tripoli and the Benghazi region.
Over 60 American jets, some of them flying from British bases, attacked key military sites.
Colonel Gaddafi’s residential compound took a direct hit that killed Hanna Gaddafi, the adopted baby daughter of the Libyan leader.
US President Ronald Reagan justified the attacks by accusing Libya of direct responsibility for terrorism aimed at America.
Rev McCrea, a Gospel singing Free Presbyterian minister, is known for his hardline views.
He served as DUP MP for Mid-Ulster between 1983 and 1997, and has been MP for South Antrim since 2000.
In 1996 he was criticised after sharing a platform at a Portadown rally with LVF leader Billy Wright.
Talk of the Town 