Political reaction to thirty eight IRA prisoners breaking out of a maximum security prison.
IRA prisoners hijacked a lorry and break out of the Maze, a maximum security prison in Northern Ireland.
One of the guards on duty that night died of a heart attack. Nineteen of the prisoners were recaptured in the following days, but the other nineteen were not.
James Prior, the Secretary of State in Northern Ireland has announced an inquiry. When asked if he thinks there was collusion between the prisoners and the Maze staff and if the escape is a boost for the IRA? James Prior says,
Well of course you can't rule it out. Although I personally think that it is unlikely. But you certainly in the circumstances of Northern Ireland can't rule these things out.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 26 September 1983. The reporter is Jim Dougal.
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