SF says British ‘main conflict protagonist’ in the Troubles

THE British government was ‘the main conflict protagonist’ in the Troubles, Sinn Féin has claimed.

The claim is contained in the party’s formal response to a public consultation on proposed mechanisms designed to address the toxic legacy of the conflict.

Former IRA prisoner Gerry Kelly yesterday justified the claim about Britain’s primary role in the conflict, saying it was because the UK maintained a garrison of 31,000 troops at one stage in the North. There had also been collusion with other forces, he insisted.

Independent analysis shows the IRA killed 1,696 persons in three decades of fighting, while the British Army was directly responsible for 299 deaths.

‘To date the British government’s approach has been to deny and cover up its own role and culpability as the main conflict protagonist,’ Sinn Féin declares in a document called ‘Engaging with the Past, Building for the Future’.

The document is the party’s response to a consultation on addressing the legacy of the past, which is expected to inform intended legislation.

The party complains of the ‘wilful obstruction’ of the Barron Inquiry and subsequent Oireachtas committee investigations into British collusion in the killing of 33 people in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of May 1974 by Loyalist paramilitaries.

It says ‘collusion between British State forces and Loyalism was widespread’ referring first to the Widgery Tribunal ‘which whitewashed the British Army’s murders of 14 civilians in Derry’ on Bloody Sunday. It also claims impediments were placed by British agencies in the way of the Saville Inquiry into those murders which exonerated the victims.

It also claims the British government’s ‘commitment to having a fit for purpose legal system capable of meaningfully engaging with legacy cases’ must be in question.