Nineteen days after the inquest verdict on the Gibraltar shootings (on 19 October 1988, in the House of Commons), the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, announced a ban on direct statements by representatives of Sinn Fein, Republican Sinn Fein, and the UDA.53 This led to the employment of the device of having an actor speak the words of someone like Gerry Adams, while the actual spokesman appeared on the screen, with lips moving silently. Inevitably it was said in Dublin that Sinn Fein could be seen but not Hurd.
