Potentially the biggest scandal by far in this area
Photo above – in 1973 (from left) are Martin McGuinness, David O’Connell, aka Daithi O Conaill, and Seamus Twomey. Photo: Larry Doherty, c/o Victor Patterson.
The claim that PIRA’s leader during the bloodiest year of the Troubles was a Garda agent is “potentially the biggest scandal by far in terms of government complicity with paramilitaries” it is claimed, Philip Bradfield writes in the News Letter.
UUP Justice Spokesman Doug Beattie was speaking after the son of former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey claimed that late PIRA chief of staff, Sean Mac Stiofáin, was a Garda Special Branch informer.
Speaking in the Dail this week, Fianna Fáil TD Seán Haughey claimed Mr Mac Stiofáin tipped off Irish authorities about an arms shipment brought into Dublin for the PIRA.
If true, it would mean Garda agent Mac Stiofáin was leading the PIRA in the bloodiest year of the Troubles – 1972 – when it killed 235 people.
Irish Cabinet Ministers, Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney were dismissed by Taoiseach Jack Lynch after they were alleged to have been involved in the plot, leading to the infamous Arms Trials of the 1970s.
Charlie Haughey’s reputation was severely damaged and now his son has demanded the release of state files to set the record straight.
“Crucially the Dáil record can only be set straight if the State confirms that the tip-off about the flight came from Mac Stiofáin,” Seán Haughey told Minister for Justice Helen McEntee in the Dáil.
“The continued concealment of Mac Stiofáin’s tales as an informer is tantamount to endorsing and perpetuating his agenda, which was to disrupt and undermine democracy and assist the role of the Provisional IRA,” the Irish Times reported him as saying.
Ms McEntee pledged to review and release “as appropriate” any relevant records.
UUP Justice Spokesperson Doug Beattie MC MLA said: “The claim by Fianna Fail TD Sean Haughey TD that the IRA Chief of Staff in the early 1970s – Sean McStoifan – was a Garda agent and informer is stunning in its implications. This is potentially the biggest scandal by far in terms of government complicity with paramilitaries in the history of the Troubles.” Sean McStoifan led the IRA in 1972 during attacks on civilians in the Abercorn restaurant, Claudy and Bloody Friday, he said.
“If Sean Haughey is correct then the Republic’s Government must set up an Inquiry as to what the Garda – and the Dublin Government – knew and when they knew it. How many innocent lives may have been lost because of a Garda agent at the head of the Provisional IRA? These allegations have massive implications.”
East Londonderry DUP MP Gregory Campbell said: “Whilst demands are made that the UK government throw open its files for every issue, the Irish Government steadfastly refuses to do likewise when it comes to the Arms Trial and similar matters. Dublin justifies not investigating these events due to the passage of time, but strikes a very different tone in the pursuit of army veterans for events only a short time later.”
Courtesy The News Letter
24 September 2020
See also –
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Sean Haughey said that on foot of two new books on the Arms Crisis in 1970, the established narrative is changing.
[ https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40053866.html ]
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