Five techniques
[1] They were first used in Northern Ireland in 1971 as part of Operation Demetrius – the mass arrest and internment of people ostensibly suspected of involvement with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).Out of those arrested, fourteen were selected not for any suspected involvement but purely on the basis of physical condition and subjected to a programme of "deep interrogation" using the five techniques.The effect was prolonged pain, physical and mental exhaustion, severe anxiety, depression, hallucinations, disorientation, and repeated loss of consciousness.In 2014, after new information was uncovered that showed the decision to use the five techniques in Northern Ireland in 1971–1972 had been taken by ministers,[5] the Irish Government asked the European Court of Human Rights to review its judgement.The court ruled: On 8 February 1977, in proceedings before the ECHR, and in line with the findings of the Parker report and United Kingdom Government policy, Samuel Silkin, the Attorney General for England and Wales and Attorney General for Northern Ireland, stated that The Government of the United Kingdom have considered the question of the use of the 'five techniques' with very great care and with particular regard to Article 3 (art.[19]On 2 December 2014, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charles Flanagan announced that the Irish Government had asked European Court of Human Rights to revise its judgment[20] following evidence uncovered by an RTÉ documentary called The Torture Files.