The comments by British prime minister Keir Starmer recently that he will look at “every conceivable way” to block Gerry Adams being compensated for being unlawfully interned during the Troubles shows that internment policies pursued by the British government, as well as the Stormont government, have been amongst many unresolved legacy issues from the Troubles.

Internment was used as a political and security instrument by different forces during many of the conflicts in Ireland in the 20th century.

On most occasions, the blunt tool achieved the reverse of its desired aim to shackle opponents, offering them a powerful propaganda weapon and indoctrination schools instead.

After the 1916 Easter Rising, the British authorities rounded up hundreds of people, many who took no part in the rebellion, and sent them to internment camps in Britain.

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The Welsh internment camp, Frongoch, became known as the “university of revolution”, where Michael Collins’s prominence within the Volunteers movement began.

© The Irish News