Catholic priest's involvement in bombing covered up by British deep state

[Jan Klimkowski]

An archetypal limited hangout, with cover story ("fear of civil unrest") prepared and in place.

Claudy bombings cover-up revealed in police report

Catholic priest James Chesney directed 1972 attacks

Northern Ireland Office and RUC hid truth for fear of civil unrest

A Catholic priest directed devastating IRA car bomb attacks in the Northern Irish village of Claudy in 1972 and his role was covered up by senior police officers, government ministers and the Catholic hierarchy, an official investigation has revealed.

The government said today it was "profoundly sorry" about the cover-up, while Northern Ireland's Catholic church said it accepted the findings, calling them "shocking".

Nine people were killed and more than 30 were injured when three vehicles exploded on the main street without warning on 31 July. It was one of the worst atrocities of the bloodiest year of the Troubles.

Three of the dead caught up in the mid-morning blast were children. No one was ever charged with the killings, and the IRA at the time denied responsibility.

The long-awaited report by the police ombudsman for Northern Ireland, published today, confirms suspicions that Father James Chesney, a priest in the nearby village of Bellaghy, was directly involved in the IRA operation, and suggests his involvement was even greater than previously assumed.

Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) detectives who investigated the attack, the report says, concluded "that the priest was the IRA's director of operations in South Derry and was alleged to have been directly involved in the bombings and other terrorist incidents".

But they failed to act on the intelligence and evidence they had gathered because senior police officers intervened to prevent them interviewing him, the report adds: "Police ombudsman investigators spoke to a former special branch detective who said he had wanted to arrest Father Chesney in the months after the bombing," it explains, "but that this had been refused by the assistant chief constable (ACC) special branch, who had advised that 'matters are in hand.'"

Senior politicians feared the arrest of a priest in connection with such an atrocity – at a time when sectarian killings in Northern Ireland were out of control and the province stood on the brink of civil war – could destabilise the security situation even further.

A deal was therefore arranged behind closed doors to remove Chesney from the province without provoking sectarian fury. Documents seen by the police ombudsman show that the ACC wrote to the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) on 30 November 1972 saying that he had been considering "what action, if any, could be taken to render harmless a dangerous priest, Father Chesney", and suggesting: "Our masters may find it possible to bring the subject into any conversations they may be having with the cardinal or bishops at some future date."

An NIO official wrote back a week later confirming that the secretary of state, Willie Whitelaw, had held a meeting with Cardinal Conway, the head of the Catholic church in Ireland, and: "The cardinal said that he knew that the priest was a very bad man and would see what could be done. The cardinal mentioned the possibility of transferring him to Donegal."

A number of senior RUC officers, including the then chief constable, Sir Graham Shillington, saw the correspondence. Shillington commented on the letter: "I would prefer Tipperary". (Donegal is only just across the border with the Irish Republic; Tipperary is 200 miles south.)

Church records confirm the deal: "An entry in Cardinal Conway's diary for 5 December 1972 confirms that the meeting with the secretary of state took place. It records that he had a "rather disturbing tête-à-tête at the end about C".

Chesney was subsequently ordered to take sick leave in early 1973, and was transferred to a parish in County Donegal later that year. When questioned by his superiors, he denied involvement in the Claudy bombings. He died in 1980.


The Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Paterson, said: "For my part, on behalf of the government, I am profoundly sorry that Father Chesney was not properly investigated for his suspected involvement in this hideous crime, and that the victims and their families have been denied justice.

He added: "My anger at the actions of those responsible for the attack is matched in strength by my sorrow that the survivors of the atrocity and the relatives of the dead did not see those responsible brought to justice for their crimes.

"I recognise, of course, that all those involved in combating terrorism at the time were making decisions in exceptionally difficult circumstances and under extreme pressure."

In a joint statement Seán Brady, the archbishop of Armagh, and Séamus Hegarty, the Bishop of Derry, described the bombing as "an appalling crime", saying: "We accept the ombudsman's findings and conclusions."

They added: "Throughout the Troubles, the Catholic church, along with other churches in Northern Ireland, was constant in its condemnation of the evil of violence. It is therefore shocking that a priest should be suspected of involvement in such violence.

"This case should have been properly investigated and resolved during Father Chesney's lifetime. If there was sufficient evidence to link him to criminal activity, he should have been arrested and questioned at the earliest opportunity, like anyone else. We agree with the police ombudsman that the fact this did not happen failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombings."


It is believed Chesney joined the south Derry brigade of the IRA in early 1972 in response to the killings of civil rights protesters in Derry on Bloody Sunday by British soldiers.

All the senior figures involved in the deal to remove Chesney and hush up his role have since died. The police ombudsman's inquiry stresses there is no evidence to suggest that any intelligence was discovered before the attack that could have prevented the atrocity.

In a highly critical conclusion, the report states: "For senior police officers to have had the weight of intelligence and information that they had pointing to Father Chesney's possible involvement in terrorism and not to have pursued lines of inquiry, which could potentially have implicated him in or eliminated him from the investigation, was wrong and compromised their investigation into the Claudy bombings."

The decision amounted to collusion between the church and the state, according to the police ombudsman, Al Hutchinson. "I accept that 1972 was one of the worst years of the Troubles and that the arrest of a priest might well have aggravated the security situation," he said. "Equally, I consider that the police failure to investigate someone they suspected of involvement in acts of terrorism could, in itself, have had serious consequences.

"In the absence of explanation the actions of the senior RUC officers, in seeking and accepting the government's assistance in dealing with the problem of Father Chesney's alleged wrongdoing, was by definition a collusive act."

Had the participants in the deal still been alive, Hutchinson said, "their actions would have demanded explanation which would have been the subject of further investigation".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/24...-up-report

[Peter Lemkin]

Nice. Still unanswered is if he was a 'real' IRA member [few were] or MI5 et al. posing as IRA [i.e. agent provacateur]. The Catholic Church has much to hang its head in shame about....for the last 2000 years or so...anyone who's Catholic don't be offended too much, I have quite negative feelings about most organized religions. I think if you have to have one, it should be your own. Religion was just another perpetual control mechanism...but I digress.....

[Jan Klimkowski]

From 2002.

Collusion at the highest level between then secretary of state Willie Whitelaw - later Lord Whitelaw - and Cardinal William Conway, the all-Ireland primate and most senior Catholic cleric on the island.

Cosy conspiracy between the cardinal and the cabinet minister that let an IRA priest go free

Cleric given new job after link to blasts that killed nine in Claudy

21 December 2002

The government and the Catholic Church were under pressure to launch a full public inquiry after devastating revelations yesterday that the former Northern Ireland secretary, William Whitelaw, and a cardinal were involved in covering up the role of a priest in one of the worst atrocities of the troubles.
Nine people, including an eight-year-old girl and two teenage boys, were killed and dozens were injured when three no-warning car bombs exploded in the village of Claudy, nine miles from Derry, on July 31 1972.

It was one of the bloodiest years in the province's history. Many of the Claudy bereaved felt they were soon forgotten as no one was ever arrested or charged with the murders. Nor did anyone claim responsibility, although it was always widelybelieved that the Provisional IRA was behind the attack.

Police instigated a review of the investigation after the 30th anniversary of the atrocity this year and an anonymous letter to a councillor three months ago sparked fresh controversy when it claimed that the late Father Jim Chesney, a priest in a nearby parish, played a key role in the bombing.

Detectives are now convinced by new information that not only was Chesney an active IRA man, whom special branch officers at the time believed was involved in Claudy, but that six months after the bombing, the then secretary of state Willie Whitelaw - later Lord Whitelaw - and Cardinal William Conway, the all-Ireland primate and most senior Catholic cleric on the island, discussed the priest's alleged paramilitary activities.

The church transferred Chesney to Co Donegal in the Irish Republic the following year, and he died in 1980 of cancer, aged 46, without ever being arrested or even questioned in relation to Claudy or any terrorist offence.

Yesterday Sam Kinkaid, the assistant chief constable in charge of north region, said: "Information has been found which clearly indicates that a parish priest in the south Derry area was a member of the Provisional IRA and was actively involved in terrorism. Intelligence also indicates that he was involved in the Claudy bomb. Records show he provided an alibi for a person suspected of playing a prominent role in the atrocity."

Mr Kinkaid refused to name the priest, but it is obviously Chesney, who was moved to Raphoe in 1973 and to Malin Head, both in Co Donegal, in 1974, where he continued to practise as a priest until 1977 when he became ill.

The senior policeman said his officers had not found any evidence to suggest that Neil Farren, the Catholic bishop of Derry in 1972, knew anything about Chesney's activities. But he revealed details of a private meeting on December 5 1972, between Whitelaw and Cardinal Conway, where they talked about Fr Chesney and Claudy.

A letter from a senior Northern Ireland Office official to police headquarters, dated December 6, reveals that the secretary of state expressed disgust at the priest's behaviour and that the cardinal, who died in 1977, knew Fr Chesney was "behaving improperly" and suggesting moving him to Donegal.

Mr Kinkaid said that a member of the public had told the cardinal and a senior police officer about Chesney's role in Claudy not long after the bombing and detectives discovered papers showing police briefed NIO officials in late November 1972.

The army had the lead role in security matters in 1972 and detectives have written to them, the NIO, and the Catholic church in the past few weeks, requesting additional material relating to Claudy.

Cardinal Conway, Lord Whitelaw and the then Royal Ulster Constabulary chief constable, Sir Graham Shillington, are all dead. But Downing Street, the Catholic Church and the police all face serious questions about why Chesney and others linked to the Claudy bombing were not arrested.

Mr Kinkaid held an emotional meeting with the Claudy families yesterday and apologised on behalf of the police when they demanded to know why suspects had not been questioned in the 1970s.

Billy and Merle Eakin, parents of eight-year-old Kathryn, who died while cleaning the windows of the family grocery store, urged the former prime minister Sir Edward Heath and the then defence secretary, Lord Carrington, to tell what they knew about Claudy. "I always wondered why was nothing done," said Mr Eakin. "I call on those in authority to answer the questions raised by this investigation."

Mrs Eakin said the same resources should be devoted to finding out the truth about Claudy as had been pumped into the Bloody Sunday inquiry. She hoped she and her husband lived to see the bombers brought to justice, but if they did not face it in this world, they would in the next.

Mary Hamilton, the Ulster Unionist deputy mayor of Derry, who was injured in the bomb and received the anonymous letter naming Chesney in September, said: "It's incredible that here was this man of God listening to confessions when he should have been making his own."

Gordon Miller, who lost his father, David, in the bomb, said: "Something should have been done years ago but we are satisfied this investigation is making progress and hope we are getting somewhere now."

Bishop Seamus Hegarty, the Catholic bishop of Derry, said he was would consider the police information very carefully but given the seriousness of the subject matter, he wanted to take time to give an adequate response. Government sources indicated that a public inquiry would probably not be considered until the new police investigation was completed.

The Claudy bombing was carried out just two weeks after Whitelaw, who died in 1999, held secret talks in London with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, who was then second-in-command of the IRA in Derry city.

At the time of the bombing, the Derry brigade was hemmed in the Bogside by police and troops. It has always denied carrying out the atrocity and issued a statement reiterating this denial to a local newspaper a few weeks ago.

But Ivan Cooper, a civil rights campaigner and former local MP who told the authorities about Chesney shortly after the bombing, said he was certain the rural South Derry brigade was responsible, adding the IRA must now come clean and admit their role.

Victims of the bomb

Patrick Connolly, 15
Kathryn Eakin, 8
Arthur Hone, 38, insurance representative
Joseph McCluskey, 39, factory worker
Elizabeth McElhinney, 59, pub and shop owner
James McClelland, 65, street cleaner
Rose McLaughlin, 52, cafe owner
David Miller, 60, street cleaner
William Temple, 16, milkman


Five of the victims were Catholic, four Protestant.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/dec/21...ernireland

[Jan Klimkowski]

The Catholic Church sez there was no conspiracy.

Phew - that's alright then. (not) :creep:

Claudy bombing: Catholic Church denies cover-up over IRA bomb attack

The Catholic Church has insisted it did not cover-up the Claudy bombing atrocity by moving a suspected terrorist priest out of Northern Ireland

Cardinal Sean Brady said the transfer of Fr James Chesney to Donegal did not stop authorities arresting or questioning him over the IRA's July 1972 triple car bomb outrage.

A report by Al Hutchinson, the Northern Ireland police ombudsman, found that police were prevented from investigating a Fr Chesney's suspected role in the bomb attack after the Government and the Church conspired to protect him.

Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland Secretary said that the Government was "profoundly sorry" that the victims had been denied justice.

In a statement, he said: "My anger at the actions of those responsible for the attack is matched in strength by my sorrow that the survivors of the atrocity and the relatives of the dead did not see those responsible brought to justice for their crimes."

In a statement issued along with Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty, senior clerics said they accept the police ombudsman's findings and conclusions.

The churchmen said it was shocking that a priest should be suspected of involvement in the village attack which killed nine people, including a young girl, and injured 30.

''This case should have been properly investigated and resolved during Father Chesney's lifetime,'' the Catholic leaders said.

''If there was sufficient evidence to link him to criminal activity, he should have been arrested and questioned at the earliest opportunity, like anyone else.

''We agree with the police ombudsman that the fact this did not happen failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombings.''

The clerics said all known Catholic Church material was handed over to investigators from the ombudsman's office.

They said church figures challenged Fr Chesney at the time about his alleged activities, which he denied.

And they repeated the ombudsman's findings that there was no evidence of criminal intent on the part of any Church official over the transfer of the priest to the Republic.

Cardinal Brady and Bishop Hegarty said the Church reported back to then secretary of state William Whitelaw the outcome of the questioning of Fr Chesney.

The churchmen added: ''We can never lose sight of the terrible human cost of this atrocity.

''Nine people died, including children. Many were injured. Many more were rendered homeless or had businesses destroyed or damaged. The entire community of a small rural town was traumatised by a horrific attack on innocent people.''

They urged anyone with information on the bombing to come forward.

''Fr Chesney is dead and, as a suspect in the Claudy bombing, he is beyond the justice of earthly courts,'' they said.

''Clearly a number of people were involved in the planning and carrying out of this terrible atrocity, some of whom may still be alive. Those bereaved and injured deserve to know the truth.''

Findings in Mr Hutchinson's report disclosed:

:: Detectives believed Father Chesney was the IRA's director of operations in south Derry and was a prime suspect in the Claudy attack and other terrorist incidents.

:: A detective's request to arrest the cleric was refused by an assistant chief constable of RUC Special Branch who instead said ''matters are in hand''.

:: The same senior officer wrote to the government about what action could be taken to ''render harmless a dangerous priest'' and asked if the matter could be raised with the Church's hierarchy.

:: In December 1972 Mr Whitelaw met Cardinal Conway to discuss the issue. According to a Northern Ireland Office official, ''the cardinal said he knew the priest was a very bad man and would see what could be done''. The church leader mentioned ''the possibility of transferring him to Donegal...''

:: In response to this memo, RUC chief constable Sir Graham noted: ''I would prefer a transfer to Tipperary.''

:: An entry in Cardinal Conway's diary on December 5 1972 confirmed a meeting with Mr Whitelaw took place and stated there had been ''a rather disturbing tete-a-tete at the end about C''.

:: In another diary entry two months later, the cardinal noted that he had discussed the issue with Father Chesney's superior and that ''the superior however had given him orders to stay where he was on sick leave until further notice''.

Father Chesney was transferred across the Irish border in Co Donegal in late 1973 and never ministered again in Northern Ireland. According to Church records, he denied involvement in the attacks when questioned by his superiors.

But he died seven years later having never faced police interview.

Mr Hutchinson said there was no evidence that the police had information that could have prevented the attack.

However, he said the RUC's decision to ask the government to resolve the matter with the Church, and then accept the outcome, was wrong.

''The decision failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombing,'' he said.

''The police officers who were working on the investigation were also undermined.''

Mr Hutchinson said the decisions made must be considered in the context of the time.

''I accept that 1972 was one of the worst years of the Troubles and that the arrest of a priest might well have aggravated the security situation,'' he said.

''Equally, I consider that the police failure to investigate someone they suspected of involvement in acts of terrorism could, in itself, have had serious consequences.''

As regards the role of Church and State officials, Mr Hutchinson said his investigation found no evidence of criminal intent on the part of any government minister or official or any official of the Catholic Church.

But he added: ''The morality or 'rightness' of the decision taken by the government and the Catholic Church in agreeing to the RUC request is another matter entirely and requires further public debate.

''Placing this information in the public domain in a transparent manner enables that debate to take place.''

The ombudsman said he was confident such an episode would never happen again.

''Rigorous procedural laws, checks and balances, media scrutiny and offices such as that of the police ombudsman would ensure that similar actions could not occur without proper accountability,'' he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/n...ttack.html

[Jan Klimkowski]

A detective's request to arrest the cleric was refused by an assistant chief constable of RUC Special Branch who instead said ''matters are in hand''.

Special Branch, eh. La de da..... :call:

The ombudsman said he was confident such an episode would never happen again.

''Rigorous procedural laws, checks and balances, media scrutiny and offices such as that of the police ombudsman would ensure that similar actions could not occur without proper accountability,'' he said.

:withstupid: :evil:

[Jan Klimkowski]

It's already unravelling.

The Guardian is reading from the wrong intelligence legend. :vollkommenauf:

My emphasis below in bold:

Claudy bombings: Father Chesney, the 'Provo Priest'

Witnesses recall colourful character of Father James Chesney, 'Derry's answer to Bonnie and Clyde' and main suspect for Claudy attacks

24 August 2010

Father James Chesney was as unlikely a character to fit the stereotype of a brooding terrorist as might be imagined. A charismatic clergyman who raced around the country lanes of Derry in his sports car, he was, according to contemporaries, convivial, considerate and deeply involved in the life of the local community.

When suspicions about his role first emerged publicly, back in 2002, former local MP and civil rights activist Ivan Cooper recalled his first meeting with the priest who, on that occasion, was accompanied by his wealthy aunt and uncle, Willie and Betty Noon.

It was the early 1970s, some time before the Claudy bombings. "They arrived at my house in a bright red Mercedes," Cooper remembered. "She was dripping with furs and waving a long cigarette holder. Later, I was invited to their house for what they called 'soirees'. There was always a fair sprinkling of priests, including their nephew, Father Jim Chesney, who was curate at Cullion, near the village of Desertmartin.

"The Noons had no children; Father Chesney was like a son to them. He was in his late 30s, 6ft tall, dark and strikingly handsome, an extremely magnetic and engaging man. He was a familiar sight, haring along the country roads in his sportscar, and always managed to look sophisticated, even though he always wore his clerical garb.

"He was polite and articulate and I was not aware his political views were very different from his aunt and uncle's until some time later when I went to a meeting of his parishioners where he asked some pointedly republican questions but in a subtle and courteous way.

"At the time, many priests were very active in running large social events, but Father Chesney was in a different league. He organised big dances and massive bingo events, where all the little towns and villages round about could join in by radio link for what were huge prizes in those days."

Some suspicions were aroused before he was disciplined and moved across the border. Father Chesney's parishioners began to point out the alarming regularity with which these events would be robbed. They suspected the takings were going straight to the Provisional IRA's coffers, with the priest's connivance.

Cooper eventually became convinced of Chesney's republican sympathies. "It became obvious that Father Chesney was Derry's answer to Bonnie and Clyde," he said.

It was Chesney's outrage at the shooting dead of 13 civil rights marchers by the Parachute Regiment in Derry on Bloody Sunday in January 1972 that is thought to have converted his republican activism into paramilitary commitment. He had become, as he was later described, a "Provo Priest".

The precise sequence of events that led up to the Claudy bombs is not detailed in the police ombudsman's report but an anonymous letter sent by a "Father Liam" in 2002, which triggered the investigation, hints at reasons for the carnage.

Father Liam, who has never been identified, said he had met Chesney at a house in Malin Head, County Donegal, in late 1972, when the County Derry curate broke down and confessed his role in the bombings.

"We talked long into the evenings about the situation in the north and then, one evening, [James] broke down in a flood of tears and said he had a terrible story to tell," one of the anonymous letters revealed.

"He said that he was horrified at the injustices done to the Catholic people and decided to do something for the people. He became a member of the IRA and was soon in charge of a small number of volunteers."

Chesney was ordered to place bombs in Claudy to relieve pressure on the IRA brigade in Derry following the breakdown of the 1972 ceasefire. According to this second-hand account, Chesney stressed he had wanted to give advance warnings of the Claudy bombs so that the streets could be cleared.

But when they stopped at nearby Dungiven the IRA men could not find a telephone box in working order. "This horrible affair has been with me now for 30 years and it has been hanging over me like a black cloud," Father Liam allegedly wrote. He added: "I must talk to someone in authority before I die. I am an old man now and I must meet my maker with a clear conscience. The souls of the deceased are crying out not for vengeance but for justice."

Chesney had been moved to Bellaghy, Co Derry, in the same month as the Claudy bombings and in the following year, 1973, he was sent to Raphoe over the border in County Donegal.

He was later despatched to more remote Malin Head, also in Donegal. He died of cancer in March 1980, aged 46. The "Provo Priest" was questioned three times by successive bishops of Derry about his role but always denied participating in the Claudy attack. In 2002, the Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, said: "It is a matter of public record that Father Chesney was a priest of good standing in the Diocese of Derry."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/aug/24...er-chesney

So, The Guardian uses the unidentified "Father Liam" to paint its picture of the "Provo Priest".

But the ombudsman report states that the "Father Liam" letter is almost certainly a fake:

4.38 The ‘Father Liam’ Letter
4.39 On 19 September 2002, shortly after the PSNI commenced a Review of the
original police investigation, the Police Ombudsman was forwarded a letter
which had been received by a public representative.
4.40 The letter, dated 7 September 2002, purported to be from an individual
identifying himself as ‘Father Liam’.
4.41 It was typed with the originating address given simply as ‘England’. The
postmark on the envelope was illegible.
4.42 The author stated that he was a Catholic Priest who had originated from
Northern Ireland and who was working in a parish in England. He stated that
he had attended Maynooth Seminary with Father Chesney.
15
4.43 The letter described a meeting with Father Chesney in Malin Head, Donegal;
‘At the end of the summer of 1972 I was up in Malin Head. I met a changed
man. We talked long into the evenings about the situation in the north and
then one evening John broke down in a flood of tears and said he had a
terrible story to tell. I listened in silence to what he had to say and now
recount as well as I can what he told me.
John said he was horrified at the injustices done to the Catholic people and
decided to do something for the people, he became a member of the IRA and
was soon in charge of a small number of volunteers. His unit was ordered
from Derry City to plant bombs in Claudy to ease the pressure on the IRA in
the City and to [sic] they planted the bombs, it was their intention to phone a
warning as they passed through Dungiven on the way home but found that all
telephones were out of order. When he heard of what happened in Claudy
he was horrified.
Shortly after Claudy he got word from a friend in Derry City that the police
were onto him and with the help of a senior police officer and the Bishop he
got a posting to Malin Head. He named the police officer but I forget the
name but I think it was Lennon or something like that.’
4.44 The letter concluded;
‘I most earnestly appeal to you as a public representative to make a
complaint to the Ombudsman in Belfast so that this awful deed is properly
investigated. If you do this and the papers print that the Ombudsman is
investigating Claudy then I am prepared to reveal myself and fully co-operate
in the investigation. I will tell all that I know of the IRA murders in Claudy.’
4.45 On Monday 23 September 2002 the Police Ombudsman issued a press
appeal for the author of the letter to come forward. The appeal asked that
the person make himself known so that an interview could be arranged.
16
4.46 The Police Ombudsman’s press release was widely reported in the media but
the author of the letter did not come forward. Further enquiries were
undertaken but proved unsuccessful in identifying the author.
4.47 The PSNI also undertook enquiries to establish the identity of the author of
the letter. An examination by the Forensic Science Agency in Northern
Ireland for indentation/overwriting, fingerprints and DNA was unsuccessful in
identifying the person.
4.48 The Police Ombudsman has concluded that the letter was unlikely to have
been from a Catholic Priest. The letter contained significant errors including
the description of Father Chesney’s forename as ‘John’ when he was known
as James or Jim. It also stated that Father Chesney was posted to Malin
Head in the summer of 1972, which is incorrect. It was also established that
at the time the letter was written no priest from Northern Ireland, then serving
in England, had attended Maynooth Seminary at the same time as Father
Chesney.

http://www.policeombudsman.org/Publicati...Claudy.pdf

[Jan Klimkowski]

I respectfully suggest that anyone interested in the deep political significance of this matter reads the official police ombudsman's report.

It's fairly short and can be downloaded as a pdf here:
http://www.policeombudsman.org/Publicati...Claudy.pdf

What I see - fundamentally - is near four decades-old RUC and British intelligence reports being presented in 2010 as fact.

When in truth this "evidence" is what it was in the 1970s - essentially hearsay.

Fwiw - the IRA has never claimed responsibility for the Claudy atrocity.

The hearsay presented as fact in the police ombudsman's report is currently being spun and respun by MSM.

Let's have a look at a typical example of this tangled and spun web from the BBC:

Ex-officer was within 15 minutes of Fr Chesney arrest

A former police officer who investigated Fr James Chesney in 1972 has told the BBC he was prevented from arresting him by senior RUC officers.

Fr Chesney, who died in 1980, was named in the Police Ombudsman's report into the Claudy bombing.

The Special Branch detective sergeant said he was within 15 minutes of launching an operation to search Father Chesney's house.

He was told not to proceed, because "the matter was under control".

Three no-warning bombs exploded in the County Londonderry village on 31 July 1972.

It later transpired that talks between the Catholic Church, the police and the government led to Fr Chesney being moved to a parish in Donegal.

The Police Ombudsman's report confirmed that detectives believed Fr Chesney was involved in the bombing which killed nine people.

However, former IRA explosives officer Shane Paul O'Doherty, who was active in the Derry-Donegal area in the early and mid-70s, said he had never heard anyone mention the priest's name at the time.

Mr O'Doherty, who served 14 years in jail in England for his involvement in a letter-bomb campaign, told the Irish News that "journalists appeared to have mistaken intelligence reports for hard evidence".

The police officer was interviewed by the ombudsman's investigative team for its Claudy report, and the ombudsman later wrote to inform him he would be referring to his evidence in his findings.

The ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, found that after talks between the then Catholic Primate Cardinal William Conway, and Secretary of State William Whitelaw, Fr Chesney was moved to a parish in the Irish Republic.

No action was ever taken against Fr Chesney, who detectives believed was the IRA's 'director of operations' in south County Derry.

He died of cancer in 1980 aged 46.

The retired Special Branch officers said the decision to "leave the priest alone" was made at a senior level.

"The time that I asked for his arrest, I had information there was a large amount of firearms in the parochial house.

"I had good sources within the Provisional IRA in south Derry," he said.

'Under control'

He said he told his superiors he was going to raid Fr Chesney's parochial house within 30 minutes unless he was told to do otherwise. He said he had soldiers standing by in Magherafelt police station as back-up for the search and arrest operation.

"They (senior officers) gave me an answer back within 15 minutes that things were under control, not to go.

"I was told, leave it alone, we're looking after it. Then the next thing I heard was that he was transferred to Malin Head (in Donegal)."

The ex-policeman said he himself was transferred out of the area a few months later after being wounded in an IRA attempt on his life.

He said he had no doubt whatsoever that Fr Chesney was involved because other Special Branch officers had received the same information from other sources.

"All my reports were obviously filed in headquarters and just locked away and now the ombudsman has got them out, discovered them."

Shane Paul O'Doherty, who cut his links with the IRA while in prison in England, said: "It is extraordinary that the ombudsman's report into the Claudy bombing pours judgment upon the late Fr Chesney and then asks for witnesses to come forward wtih evidence to support its case.

"Would this be putting the hanging before the trial?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11091255

There are so many ambiguities in this.

We are truly in Jorge Luis Borges' "El Jardín de senderos que se bifurcan": "Whosoever would undertake some atrocious enterprise should act as if it were already accomplished, should impose upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past."

No action was ever taken against Fr Chesney, who detectives believed was the IRA's 'director of operations' in south County Derry.
(snip)
The retired Special Branch officers said the decision to "leave the priest alone" was made at a senior level.

"The time that I asked for his arrest, I had information there was a large amount of firearms in the parochial house.

"I had good sources within the Provisional IRA in south Derry," he said.

And directly from the ombudsman's report:

4.14 Intelligence from August 1972 identified Father Chesney as the Quarter Master and Director of Operations of the South Derry Provisional Irish
Republican Army (IRA). During the same month other police reports alleged
that Father Chesney had directed the Claudy bombings and that both he and
Man A were involved in other terrorist incidents.

http://www.policeombudsman.org/Publicati...Claudy.pdf

So what are the precise allegations against Chesney?

Let's break it down.

Brigades
The IRA refers to its ordinary members as volunteers (or óglaigh in Irish). Up until the late 1970s, IRA volunteers were organised in units based on conventional military structures. Volunteers living in one area formed a company as part of a battalion, which could be part of a brigade, although many battalions were not attached to a brigade.

For most of its existence, the IRA had five Brigade areas within what it referred to as the "war-zone". These Brigades were located in Armagh, Belfast, Derry, Donegal and Tyrone/Monaghan.[53 O'Brien The Long War]
(snip)
Derry city had one battalion and the South Derry Brigade. The Derry Battalion became the Derry Brigade in 1972 after a rapid increase in membership following Bloody Sunday when British paratroopers killed 13 unarmed demonstrators at a civil rights march.[55 1974: Compensation for Bloody Sunday victims]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional...Leadership

So is the allegation that Chesney was Quarter Master and Director of Operations of the IRA's South Derry Brigade?

The Special Branch officer says: "I had good sources within the Provisional IRA in south Derry," he said.

Really? And these "sources" finger Chesney as Quartermaster and Director of Operations of that "brigade"?

The IRA Derry brigade contained some aspiring "rock stars" at this time:

Martin McGuinness joined the IRA around 1970 at the age of 20, after the Troubles broke out. He originally joined the Official IRA unaware of the split at the December 1969 Army Convention. He shortly switched to the Provisional IRA. By the start of 1972, at the age of 21, he was second-in-command of the IRA in Derry, a position he held at the time of Bloody Sunday.[5] A claim was made at the Saville Inquiry that McGuinness was responsible for supplying detonators for nail bombs on Bloody Sunday where 14 civil rights marchers were killed by British soldiers in Derry. Paddy Ward claimed he was the leader of the Fianna, the youth wing of the IRA in January 1972. He claimed McGuinness, the second-in-command of the IRA in the city at the time, and another anonymous member gave him bomb parts on the morning of 30 January, the date planned for the civil rights march. He said his organisation intended to attack city-centre premises in Derry on the day when civilians were shot dead by British soldiers. In response McGuinness said the claims were "fantasy", while Gerry O’Hara, a Sinn Féin councillor in Derry stated that he and not Ward was the Fianna leader at the time.[6]

Ultimately, the Saville Inquiry was inconclusive on McGuiness' role due to contradictory testimony over his movements, concluding that while he was "engaged in paramilitary activity" during Bloody Sunday, and had probably been armed with a Thompson submachine gun, there was insufficient evidence to make any finding other than they were "sure that he did not engage in any activity that provided any of the soldiers with any justification for opening fire"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_mcguinness

However Shane Paul O'Doherty was right in the thick of IRA actitivities in Derry in 1972:

former IRA explosives officer Shane Paul O'Doherty, who was active in the Derry-Donegal area in the early and mid-70s, said he had never heard anyone mention the priest's name at the time.

Mr O'Doherty, who served 14 years in jail in England for his involvement in a letter-bomb campaign, told the Irish News that "journalists appeared to have mistaken intelligence reports for hard evidence".
(snip)
Shane Paul O'Doherty, who cut his links with the IRA while in prison in England, said: "It is extraordinary that the ombudsman's report into the Claudy bombing pours judgment upon the late Fr Chesney and then asks for witnesses to come forward wtih evidence to support its case.

"Would this be putting the hanging before the trial?"

Indeed.

I do not believe the available (primarily hearsay) evidence justifies the conclusions of the police ombudsman's report that "Father Chesney as the Quarter Master and Director of Operations of the South Derry Provisional Irish
Republican Army (IRA) (snip) had directed the Claudy bombings."

However, the following chronology does seem likely:

i) low level RUC and Special Branch officers received intelligence from inside the Derry/South Derry (take your pick 'cos they sure don't know which) "cells" of the IRA that Chesney was actively involved in active terrorist activities, including Claudy;

ii) these low level RUC and Special Branch officers decided to raid Chesney's home and arrest him;

iii) high level RUC and Special Branch told these low level officers to back off. Immediately and permanently;

iv) shortly afterwards, the British govt's relevant big cheese, Northern Ireland secretary Willie Whitelaw, meets Cardinal William Conway, and Chesney is moved a few miles over the border into Ireland.

The official justification for these actions is that:

Senior politicians feared the arrest of a priest in connection with such an atrocity – at a time when sectarian killings in Northern Ireland were out of control and the province stood on the brink of civil war – could destabilise the security situation even further.

(See OP above.)

I've been looking at a lot of Irish websites - of each and every political and religious persuasion. The general consensus is that the official rationale is tosh. Rubbish. In 1972, the killing was happening anyway, and most of the killers didn't need any more reasons to carry on doing their foul work.

So, behind the smoke and mirrors of a limited hangout, hearsay presented as official fact almost forty years later, what options are we left with?

Speculatively:

i) the official story is essentially true - Chesney was a "provo priest", involved in the Claudy atrocity, and the British state did a deal with the Roman Catholic Church to move him across the border.

Moral objection: that would be a disgrace.

Practical objection: how did moving Chesney a few miles across the border prevent him from being involved directly in ongoing IRA activities?

ii) alternately, the British deep state, at senior Special Branch, intelligence and Cabinet level, stepped in to protect a British intelligence asset.

The asset may have been Father Chesney.

Alternately, it may have been someone else in the IRA.

Footnote: the police ombudsman report does not regard the 2002 "Father Liam letter" as authentic, despite MSM having quoted it widely.

This leads to a significant problem:

Namely, that the "Father Liam letter" was the trigger for the ombudsman's report.

It also leads to further speculation. Here's a key passage from the "Father Liam letter":

‘At the end of the summer of 1972 I was up in Malin Head. I met a changed
man. We talked long into the evenings about the situation in the north and
then one evening John broke down in a flood of tears and said he had a
terrible story to tell. I listened in silence to what he had to say and now
recount as well as I can what he told me.
John said he was horrified at the injustices done to the Catholic people and
decided to do something for the people, he became a member of the IRA and
was soon in charge of a small number of volunteers. His unit was ordered
from Derry City to plant bombs in Claudy to ease the pressure on the IRA in
the City and to [sic] they planted the bombs, it was their intention to phone a
warning as they passed through Dungiven on the way home but found that all
telephones were out of order. When he heard of what happened in Claudy
he was horrified.
Shortly after Claudy he got word from a friend in Derry City that the police
were onto him and with the help of a senior police officer and the Bishop he
got a posting to Malin Head. He named the police officer but I forget the
name but I think it was Lennon or something like that.’

:bebored:

I read the "Father Liam letter" as an attempt to create an intelligence legend. Indeed, for me, it is the starting point of the limited hangout.

The letter points the finger at Chesney using existing, highly tenuous evidence, and provides mitigation along the following lines: we couldn't phone in a warning 'cos the phone boxes weren't working and I've been wracked with guilt ever after....

I call BULLSHIT.

My speculative interpretation is that a key British intelligence asset was, or is, being protected as part of the Whitelaw/Conway deal.

And that asset may not have been Father James Chesney.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Shane Paul O'Doherty was a prolific IRA bomber, part of the IRA's "Derry brigade", whatever that means, who is near unique in eventually apologizing to his victims and breaking with the IRA.

Significantly, O'Doherty has contacted the press in the wake of the Police ombudsman's reports into Claudy, and claims to have absolutely no knowledge of a "provo priest" directing an active IRA bombing campaign.

The former IRA bomber Shane Paul O’Doherty told the Irish News that while he was a senior figure in the IRA in Derry in the early to mid-1970s he never heard of Father Chesney .

“If Father Chesney was involved in the IRA unit that bombed Claudy and if he was later still involved in the IRA while based in Malin Head, Donegal, it is extraordinary that IRA persons in the Derry brigade never heard of him until 2002 and were never able to make use of any of his services in the early or mid-1970s in Derry city or in Donegal,” he said.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/news_fr...?showAll=y

There's a 2005 interview with O'Doherty about his life at the link below. It's quite a journey:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazin..._odoherty/

------------------------

It is of course possible that one IRA cell might have no knowledge of the personnel making up another IRA cell. However, the "Derry brigade" and its offshoots appears to have been fairly ramshackle.

O'Doherty's statements directly contradict the ombudsman's report.

Since that report has nothing beyond 1970s hearsay and a fake 2002 letter from a non-existent priest ("Father Liam") as "evidence" for its claim that Father Chesney was "the Quarter Master and Director of Operations of the South Derry Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA)", that particular conclusion is now in serious doubt.

However, the evidence of low level RUC being prevented from arresting Father Chesney, or raiding his property, by RUC/Special Branch/intel top brass is strong, with many protagonist witness statements.

Similarly, the evidence of collusion between Northern Ireland secretary Willie Whitelaw (the cabinet minister running NI and its security/military apparatus) and Cardinal William Conway (most senior Catholic cleric), to move Chesney out of Northern Ireland, is strong and supported by documentation.

The real questions remain:

Who or what was being protected by these actions of the British deep state?

Was Chesney a British asset?

Or was there another British asset who was being protected?

(Especially since low level RUC were prevented from raiding Chesney's property, which may have been a veritable cornucopia leading to that asset.)

Why was the police ombudsman's report, containing near four decades old intelligence reports - hearsay masquerading as evidence - released now?

What is especially strange is that, in the version presented by the police ombudsman, there was a conspiracy between the British government, the Catholic Church, the RUC and Special Branch to protect a terrorist bomber. And the powers that be HATE "conspiracies" that are officially confirmed as true by "credible" sources.

In MSM terms, the Police ombudsman is a rock solid and highly credible source.

As the Jack Nicholson character sez in Scorsese's The Departed, "I smell a rat":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvVqcuNQHpI

[Jan Klimkowski]

The context for the Claudy bombing is Operation Motorman, which was a major British military operation to "retake" the "no go areas" of what was known as Free Derry.

Both Motorman and the Claudy bombing took place on July 31, 1972.

Here are some short introductions to Operation Motorman, often interpreted through the source's particular historical lens:

From the British government's national archives:

No-go areas and Operation Motorman

Operation Motorman

The continued existence of nationalist no-go areas in Belfast and Londonderry was a serious problem for the security forces as they provided refuge for provisional IRA terrorists. At the same time, the establishment of loyalist no-go areas made a mockery of law within Ulster. The British Army had planned an operation to clear both nationalist and loyalist no-go areas, but the Westminster government held off authorising the plan, fearing heavy civilian casualties. After repeated warnings, which allowed many terrorists to move to other loyalist areas (or across the border into the republic in the case of nationalists), the operation was finally given the go-ahead.

The operation began on 31 July 1972. Thirty thousand troops were involved, including 38 regular battalion-sized formations (27 of which were infantry battalions and two armoured regiments) and 5,500 members of the Ulster Defence Regiment. The operation met with almost no resistance in either nationalist or loyalist areas.

Political attempts to end the violence
With the clearance of no-go areas and the imposition of direct rule from Westminster there was a possibility of a political solution to the troubles. On 9 December 1973, at Sunningdale in Berkshire, the British Government and the Irish Republic, together with representatives from mainstream parties in Northern Ireland, set up a Council of Ireland to provide a forum for discussions about Ulster and a power-sharing executive to replace direct rule by Westminster.

Hard-line loyalists vociferously opposed the Sunningdale Agreement. The Ulster Workers’ Council organised a seven-day general strike that saw Northern Ireland brought to a halt. The power-sharing executive collapsed on 28 May 1974 and direct rule from Westminster was re-imposed. Throughout the 1970s the level of violence generally decreased, with neither the security forces nor the nationalists able to decisively defeat each other. The situation became a stalemate.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabin...torman.htm

From the Museum of Free Derry:

HISTORY – OPERATION MOTORMAN

The introduction of internment in August 1971 lead to an upsurge in support for both wings of the IRA in Derry and within days Free Derry was again established in the city, encompassing the areas of the Bogside, Brandywell and Creggan.

Within this area both wings of the IRA, the Provisonals and the Officials, operated openly with widespread popular support, patrolling the area in armed patrols and establishing offices throughout thearea. Free Derry also served as a secure base for operations throughout the rest of the city and its existence proved a consistent embarrassment both to the Unionist government at Stormont and the British Army.

The events of Bloody Sunday, and the subsequent Widgery whitewash, reinforced the local communities alienation from the forces of the state and the IRA was further strengthened.
The events that preceded Motorman, however, did much to lessen support for the IRA within Free Derry, as did political developments elsewhere. The suspension of Stormont and the introduction of Direct Rule by Westminster in March 1972 was viewed by many as a triumph for Free Derry and a reason for bringing it to and end.

Then on the 21st May 1972 the Official IRA shot dead Ranger Best in William Street. This killing was greeted with horror by many people within derry since whilst ranger Best was a British soldier he was also a local who was in Derry on leave visiting his family. The public opposition expressed in Derry to this killing provided the opportunity for the Dublin based leadership of the Official IRA to call a ceasefire that it had already been contemplating. This was announced on the 29th May 1972.

At 4 am on the 31st July 1972 Free Derry came to an end. Thousands of British troops, supported by tanks and armoured cars, swept into the area and began dismantling the barricades with bulldozers. The IRA offered no resistance in the face of this overwhelming force, having been warned by the build up of military equipment and personnel that a major operation was being planned.

2 people, 15 year old Daniel Hegarty and IRA Volunteer Seamus Bradley were shot dead by British troops during the operation. Daniel Hegarty was shot yards from his home as he attempted to get a sight of the tanks involved in the operation, by soldiers manning a machine gun. Seamus Bradley was wounded in the leg and bled to death whilst in the custody of British soldiers.

26 companies had surrounded Free Derry, supported by specialist tanks and approximately 100 APCs.

http://www.museumoffreederry.org/history-motorman.html

Operation Motorman was a large operation carried out by the British Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The operation took place in the early hours of 31 July 1972 and its aim was to retake the "no-go areas" (areas controlled by Irish republican paramilitaries) that had been established in Belfast and Derry.

Background
The Northern Ireland riots of August 1969 marked the beginning of the conflict known as "The Troubles". As a result of the riots, Northern Ireland's two main cities—Belfast and Derry—had become more segregated than before. Many neighbourhoods became either purely Irish nationalist and republican or purely unionist and loyalist. In some places, residents and paramilitaries built barricades to seal-off and protect their neighbourhoods from incursions by "the other side", by the security forces, or both. These became known as "no-go areas".

By the end of 1971, 29 barricades were in place to block access to what was known as Free Derry; 16 of them impassable even to the British Army's one-ton armoured vehicles.[1] Many of the nationalist/republican "no-go areas" were controlled by one of the two factions of the Irish Republican Army—the Provisional IRA and Official IRA. On 29 May 1972, the Official IRA called a ceasefire[2] and vowed that it would only launch attacks in self-defence.

On 21 July 1972, in the space of 75 minutes, the Provisional IRA detonated 22 bombs in Belfast. Nine people (including two soldiers and a loyalist paramilitary) were killed and 130 were injured. This attack prompted the British Government to implement Operation Motorman, just ten days later.[2]

[edit] Preparations
Operation Motorman would be the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956.[2] In the days before 31 July, about 4,000 extra troops were brought into Northern Ireland.[2] Involved were almost 22,000 soldiers[2]—including 27 infantry and two armoured battalions—aided by 5,300 soldiers from the local Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).[3] Several Centurion AVRE demolition vehicles, derived from the Centurion tank, were used. These were the only heavy tanks to be deployed operationally by the Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The tanks had been transported to Northern Ireland on board the amphibious landing ship HMS Fearless, and were operated with their demolition guns pointed to the rear, covered with tarpaulins.[4]

This quick military build-up alerted the Provisional IRA and Official IRA that a major operation was being planned.[5]

[edit] The operation

A Centurion AVRE similar to those used in the operationThe operation began at about 4:00am on 31 July and lasted for a few hours. In "no-go areas" such as Free Derry, sirens were sounded by residents to alert others of the incursion.[6] The British Army used bulldozers and the Centurion AVREs to smash through and dismantle the barricades, before flooding the "no-go areas" with troops in armoured vehicles.[2][5] The Provisional IRA and Official IRA were not equipped to battle such a large force and did not attempt to hold their ground.[5] By the end of the day, Derry and Belfast had been cleared of "no-go areas", but the Army remained cautious when operating in staunchly republican districts.

[edit] Casualties
During the operation, the British Army shot four people, killing a civilian and an unarmed IRA member.

Daniel Hegarty, a 15-year-old Catholic civilian,[7] was shot along with his two cousins as they walked along Creggan Heights in Derry.[8] The boys had gone out to see the tanks and watch the operation unfold.[8] The shots were fired from close range by soldiers who had hidden themselves behind a garden fence.[8] Daniel was killed outright. In June 2007, 35 years later, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) released a document that described Daniel as a "terrorist" and claimed that he was armed. Two months later, the MoD withdrew and apologised for the document, accepting that "Daniel was innocent and that the reference to him as a terrorist was inaccurate".[9]
Seamus Bradley, a 19-year-old Provisional IRA member,[7] was shot as he climbed a tree in Bishop's Field, Derry.[10] He was shot in the leg from long range by soldiers who had hidden themselves behind a hedgerow.[10] The soldier who shot him claimed that he had been armed at the time. However, when a group of soldiers arrived to arrest him, no weapon was found.[10] Seamus was then taken away in a Saracen APC and bled to death while in the custody of British soldiers.[5]
[edit] Aftermath

A few hours after the conclusion of Operation Motorman, the Claudy bombing occurred. Nine civilians were killed when three car bombs exploded on the Main Street of Claudy village, County Londonderry. Five of the victims were Catholic and four were Protestant.[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Motorman

[Jan Klimkowski]

Perhaps Shane Paul O'Doherty's comments have rattled a few cages - given the fairly desperate journalism below.

The headline of the article does not fully reflect the contents of the article in which:

- an anonymous "senior ex-IRA member" claims Chesney was IRA.
- a named former IRA chief of staff states that Chesney told him he had nothing to do with the Claudy bombing.

Senior ex-Provisional confirms Fr James Chesney was in IRA

Suzanne Breen Northern Editor

A senior ex-IRA member in Derry has told the Sunday Tribune how he attended IRA meetings with Fr James Chesney, the priest accused of involvement in the Claudy bombing in which nine people were killed.

It is the first confirmation from a republican source that Chesney was an IRA activist. Last week, the police ombudsman's report named the priest as a suspect in the atrocity.

RUC special branch alleged he was the Provisionals' South Derry commander and drove the lead bomb car into Claudy. However, given special branch's history, many nationalists are suspicious of its claims.

The former senior IRA figure said Chesney was definitely an IRA member: "Like many others, he joined following that wave of anger at how civil rights' marchers were treated. He was deeply affected by the introduction of internment."

The ex-IRA man attended a meeting in Bellaghy, Co Derry, at which Chesney was present. He was "very impressed" with Chesney: "He wasn't just a verbal republican. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty."

The ex-Provisional was in jail at the time so he doesn't know if Chesney played a role in the bombing.

In 1973, the Catholic Church moved the priest to Malin Head, Co Donegal. The former IRA man claimed Chesney was instrumental in setting up a training camp in the area which was used right up until the 1994 ceasefire.

Former IRA chief of staff Ruairí Ó Brádaigh said the priest had denied involvement in Claudy to him.

"Fr Chesney approached me in 1979 in Sligo after I'd addressed a H-Block rally. He said there were rumours that he was involved in Claudy but he had nothing to do with it and was on holiday in Donegal at the time of the bombing."

Meanwhile, Deputy First Minister Martin Mc*Guinness, who was the IRA's Derry OC at the time of the bomb, has been urged to be honest with bereaved families.

"The names of the senior republicans involved... are common knowledge. These individuals must do the decent thing and tell the families the full truth," said SDLP councillor Brenda Stevenson. "As a party in government, Sinn Fein must live up to its responsibilities. Letting it all hang on Fr Chesney who is dead is the cowardly way out."

Asked to comment, Sinn Féin said McGuinness was on holiday. "Martin McGuinness wasn't mentioned in the Claudy report so anyone asking questions clearly has an agenda," a spokesman said.

August 29, 2010

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/art...hesney-wa/