Ahern says advisor did seek RIRA cease fire but no deal on Omagh
But Mr Ahern said these contacts were made prior to the Omagh bombing.He insisted no offers were ever made to the Real IRA in return for a cease fire.
Mr Ahern admitted Mr Mansergh was involved in contacts with the 32 County Sovereignty Committee in efforts to secure a Real IRA cease fire.
This, he said, was before the Omagh bomb killed 33 in August 1998.
The Taoiseach said he understood that a go-between, Fr Alex Reid, had been approached after the Omagh atrocity by Real IRA elements and that the priest relayed the content of these discussions to Dr Mansergh, now a member of Seanad Eireann.
“I am entirely satisfied that Fr Reid in all his contact emphasised that, regardless of a cease fire, the Omagh bombers would be pursued and that the law would also take its course in relation to all other crimes committed before a cease fire,” Mr Ahern told the Dáil.
The Taoiseach was commenting after Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny tabled a question about media reports on an alleged ceasefire deal after Omagh.
Mr Ahern rejected claims there had been direct Government contact at any stage with the Real IRA in relation to a cease fire.
Mr Ahern said Fr Reid, a Belfast-based member of the Redemptorist order, had helped broker two IRA cease fires. The Taoiseach said he regretted the priest and Dr Mansergh, who served the peace process so well, were now subjected to innuendo.
The Taoiseach said the Dublin authorities had deployed its strongest resources against the Real IRA with 41 of their members jailed in Portlaoise Prison, 34 of whom were convicted of various crimes. He said the only person convicted so far in relation to the Omagh bombing was secured in the Dublin courts.
A report in a Sunday paper noted Dr Mansergh’s contact with Fr Reid and linked it to a subsequent RIRA ceasefire which led to the lifting of police surveillance of the RIRA.
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