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7 December 2006 Edition

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Collusion - Irish Government must demand full truth from British

Following the Oireachtas Committee Report on the Barron investigation into bomb attacks at Dundalk, Castleblayney, Dublin and other acts of British state collusion with unionist paramilitary death squads, the Irish Government must demand full disclosure from the British Government about the role of collusion in its war in Ireland.
British government credibility on the issue of collusion lies in tatters after the recent release of the Oireachtas report establishing crown forces collusion with the UVF element in Mid Ulster. The report also establishes that members of the RUC and UDR were members of the death squads and that British state forces at higher levels were very well aware of what was going on.
Meanwhile, members of the Irish Government at the time have serious questions to answer about that government's inaction during the bombing campaign.
Members of the Fine Gael/Labour coalition of the 1970s must explain their very obvious inaction and indecision during the period.
Current Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny was himself a member of that government. As Martin Ferris said this week, Kenny may be able to throw some light on the murky machinations of his party at a time when it failed to investigate substantial evidence of British involvement in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.
Despite an admission from the British government, that they had evidence the perpetrators had been interned, the Irish government of the time made no effort to extradite the suspects or to even question them about the bombings. The information was kept secret and the families of those killed were never informed.
It is clear that Fine Gael was willing to follow a murderous British agenda and for years afterwards denied the very existence of collusion.
Successive reports and investigations now have shown that British state forces directed unionist paramilitaries in targeting people for assassination and in spreading indiscriminate terror against the nationalist population on both sides of the border.
The Oireachtas Committee, responsible for the most recent damning report has again criticised the British authorities for their failure to co-operate with the Barron investigations and with the Committee's own work.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern must urgently take this issue in hand, accept no further obstruction from the British Government and seek a special summit meeting with British Premier Tony Blair devoted solely to the issue of collusion.


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