It’s time we had an inquiry into Dublin’s collusion with IRA
There’s ample evidence of Irish government links to the Provos
MICHEAL Martin has agreed to meet DUP leader Arlene Foster about allegations of Irish state collusion with republican terrorist organisations and both the meeting and the outcome will be awaited with keen interest.
Down through the years, there have been many calls for a full public inquiry into Irish state collusion with republican terror gangs.
However, the only inquiry carried out in the Republic has been the Smithwick inquiry, which looked into the IRA murders of RUC officers Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan.
They were killed by the Provisional IRA near the border in 1989 as they returned from a meeting in Dundalk Garda station.
The inquiry report was published in December 2013 and Judge Smithwick said he was “satisfied there was collusion in the murders”. He also said he was “satisfied that the evidence points to the fact that there was someone within the Garda station assisting the IRA”.
The remit of the Smithwick inquiry was very specific and it was investigating local Garda collusion in a particular incident.
But the evidence provided during the inquiry also pointed to collusion in the investigation of the Narrow Water bombing, where the IRA killed 18 soldiers.
The bombs were detonated from Co Louth and the initial investigation involved officers from Dundalk Garda station.
Three days after the bombing, Northern Ireland’s top forensic scientist visited the detonation scene and said there was “a wealth of potential evidence”.
The Garda were tasked with preserving the scene overnight, but when he returned the next day, the area had been “obliterated”.
This was, he said, “either unbelievably incompetent or deliberately obstructive”.
Even with the obliteration of the scene, Dr James O’donovan, the former head of the Republic’s forensic state laboratory, said he was surprised no one was prosecuted because of the “good evidence” against two suspects.
“Why was the Criminal Prosecution Act not used?” he asked. It is a question that has still to be answered and a question that takes us above the level of a local Garda station.
Indeed, there is evidence that state collusion went to the very top of the Irish state.
Surely, the Irish state was colluding with the IRA when its laws empowered Irish courts to turn down extradition warrants because crimes committed by the IRA were deemed to be “political offences”. In that way, the state provided a sanctuary for terrorists.
One of the beneficiaries of this was Dermot Finucane, a senior IRA man and brother of Pat Finucane.
Indeed, Irish state collusion can be traced back to 1969. Irish state papers released at the start of 2006 revealed that Jock Haughey, a brother of Charles Haughey, was sighted in London in November 1969 in the company of Martin Casey, a member of Saor Eire, an armed republican group composed of Trotskyists and EX-IRA members, and that they were there to purchase guns for use in Northern Ireland.
Another person involved in that episode was John Kelly, one of the founders of the Provisional IRA and later a Sinn Fein MLA.
The connection with Saor Eire came through Neil Blaney, the agriculture minister, who was a friend of Liam Walsh, an EX-IRA man who had joined Saor Eire.
Moreover, the guns were sourced in England for Saor Eire.
Charles Haughey, who was then the finance minister, was working with Neil Blaney to import guns for Irish republicans.
It’s a story of gunmen, gangsters and Irish government ministers.
Victims of republican violence have often called for truth and transparency and the long-running saga took an interesting turn earlier this year when Sean Haughey TD, a son of Charles Haughey, also called for Irish state papers from the time to be released.
So, what papers have not been released? And why?
With so much evidence of Irish state collusion, conspiracy and cover-up, Arlene Foster will have plenty to talk about when she meets Micheal Martin.
The meeting will certainly put the spotlight on the Fianna Fail leader and the demand should be for nothing less than a full public inquiry.
There have been many public inquiries into Irish political corruption, so why not an inquiry into Irish state collusion?