Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson Tom Elliott has renewed his call for the Dublin Government to provide full disclosure of the role played by successive administrations in creating and facilitating the IRA’s campaign of terror during the Troubles.
Speaking following the launch of a book by Kieran Conway, a former an IRA ‘intelligence officer’, Mr Elliott said:
“The information contained in Kieran Conway’s book reinforces the suspicions held by many people that the IRA was assisted in its terror campaign by elements in the Dublin establishment including politicians, bankers, stockbrokers and members of the Garda.
“Dublin barrister Kieran Conway admits to being an IRA “intelligence officer” in the early 1970s and makes his claims in a new book “Southside Provisional”.
“The claims are consistent with long-held suspicions fuelled by the 1970 Arms trial, the findings of the Smithwick Inquiry into collusion between elements of the Garda and the IRA, and the relative ease with which the IRA was able to operate in the Republic throughout the Troubles.
“Just last summer we have seen comments by former Justice Minister Michael McDowell that a de facto amnesty for IRA terrorists has operated south of the border for more than a decade.
“The claims in this book reinforce the need for a full-scale inquiry into the role played by successive Dublin governments and the Irish state into the creation of the Provisional IRA and the extent to which its activities were not only tolerated but facilitated.”