Collusion?

An open letter to the Irish News April 2004

 

I was delighted to see the correspondence from “Derry nationalist” in the Friday 9^th April edition of your paper. He has raised an issue that has been exercising the minds of many in the pro-British community in N. Ireland, namely, the issue of collusion between the State and terrorist death squads.

 

Then there appeared a report in your paper of the speech delivered by Dr Sean Brady, R C Archbishop of Armagh, to an audience in London, in which he criticised the UK government for its alleged collusion with murderers, and for its delay in publishing the report into the Finucane affair.

 

Your readers will be very aware of the enquiries into alleged collusion in the murders of people as a result of the recently published Judge Cory Report.

 

But are readers also aware of the collusion cases that, for some reason or other, we do not talk so much about?  I refer to the crucial part played by the Dublin government in the equipping, financing and training of the IRA; the attitude of its court system to the extradition of murderers for trial in N. Ireland, just because crimes are categorised as ‘political offences’; the running and protection of agents within the IRA by the government of the Republic, and the UK government’s MI5, and by the RUC; the Libyan government’s supplying of arms to, and the funding and training of, the IRA; the miscellaneous furtive meetings by the Governments of the UK and the Irish Republic with terror groups; and the seemingly endless supply of funding from the United States government through Noraid for the murder of people in N. Ireland.

 

This last item leads on to the one collusion case that we never talk about – that between the IRA and the official emissaries of the Vatican State, to whose head RC priests and people give their allegiance.  Some of these clergy have been actively involved with IRA recruitment, swearing in of volunteers, pastoral and financial support for IRA terrorists, and indeed active service.  It is clear that Derry Nationalist remembered this expression of collusion, but disappointingly Dr Brady’s memory had failed him at this point.

 

So, in order to help Dr Brady, I can think of the following RC priests whose names are already in the public domain as being actively involved in the IRA terror organisation:  Fr Sean McManus, allegedly supplied money for guns and the operational costs of the PIRA; Fr Ford, who was involved in the brutal murder of Tory MP Airey Neave; Fr Green, who played an active role in the Maze escape; Fr Ryan, the Glasgow priest, who was involved in gun-running in Belgium for the PIRA; Fr Jim Chesney, who played a central role in the planning and execution of the Claudy bombing; there was the priest who was involved in the Birmingham bombing; the two priests who, according to former PIRA killer, Sean O’Callaghan, provided a safe house in their home in Carrickmore, Co. Tyrone, after O’Callaghan murdered RUC Insp. Flanagan in a bar in Omagh, and who was a RC; O’Callaghan also discloses that a priest in the Irish Republic gave an induction speech to IRA volunteers; and so on.

 

Add to this the fact that in all likelihood, their bishops knew exactly what was going on with these clergy; for example, the Bishop of Derry was able to move Fr Chesney from Dessertmartin to north Donegal, after the Claudy atrocity which killed nine innocent people from both communities, including a nine year old girl.  Not only did Chesney’s Bishop know about his involvement with the PIRA, the RUC chief in Londonderry also knew about it, as did the then secretary of state for N. Ireland, Mr William (afterwards Lord) Whitelaw, MP.

 

These other priests also had their bishops, and the question that this raises is: what exactly did they know about this?  If they moved their priests on to new pastures, why did they do it?  So a fair estimate would be that at least eight bishops, whose allegiance and loyalty are to the head of the Vatican State, were also involved in collusion with terrorists that resulted in heinous murders.

 

Surely it is time for the R. C. Church to come clean and admit its role in the murder of people in N. Ireland and in GB.  Surely it is time that enquiries are held into this terrible situation, so that some sign of enquiry equality is apparent.  As the provos are always telling us, “Collusion is State Murder.”  If this is true in any one arena, it is true in all.  How disappointing it is that the RC Church never once used the ultimate sanction against such murderers – excommunication from the fellowship and privileges of the church.  They saw no need to stem the murder campaign that was going on within its ranks, and especially amongst its own clergy. 

 

Dr Brady, you were a clergyman during the years of the terrorist campaign in N. Ireland; what part have you played in the encouragement, training, planning, and execution of terrorist crimes?  If you knew this was going on – as the dogs in the streets knew – then it would appear that you too, Sir, have colluded in the murders of innocent people in this country by turning a blind eye to what was going on within your own church.

 

It is difficult to see how men of religious convictions can be, at best associated with, and at worst actively involved in, a murder campaign that killed men, women, and children, unless they felt protected by the church authorities.  Maybe they still hold to the doctrine of the Holy War (against the pro-British people in N. Ireland, both catholic and protestant).   Or perhaps they still believe in the rightness of the “Murder Without Sin” doctrine which was resurrected from the 1640’s rebellion!

 

Whatever the case, the RC Church has been involved at the most profound level in the terror campaign against the innocent people of Ulster.  So in order to give the RC Church the opportunity to tell the truth and clear its name, a public enquiry must be held into the extent of its involvement in the murder campaign that has blighted so many lives in Ulster. 

 

It is often argued in the province that enquiries must be held against State collusion in killings for the simple reason that the State ought to be above acting outside the law in the pursuit of its aims – a reasonable position to hold.  But surely any organisation that calls itself Christian ought to be even more careful to act within the law, so that any breech of the law and of its high calling ought to result in an enquiry at the highest level into its activities?

 

I trust that someone reading this letter/article will initiate action to enable this suggestion, which has growing cross-community support, to become a reality.  It is time we were told the whole truth!

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

J. E. Hazlett Lynch (Dr)