TD backs hunger striker’s fight to clear name

A FIANNA Fáil TD has backed hunger striker Kathryn Nelson’s assertion that she is innocent of involvement in money laundering for the IRA.

Deputy Sean O’Fearghaill said he did not believe Ms Nelson would engage in any criminal activity and said it would be helpful if the gardaí would publicly declare whether they had any continued interest in her.

The Kildare South TD is a former pupil of Ms Nelson, who taught in her native Co Kildare until 1990, when she left following a dispute with the Vocational Education Committee to take up a teaching position in Libya. He said he was “absolutely sure” of his former teacher’s innocence.

“I know her very well for many years. While she is a colourful and interesting character, I would never see her doing anything that would put herself outside the law. It would be very helpful if the gardaí could now clarify their position in relation to her.”

Ms Nelson, 57, is living in a rented apartment on the Isle of Man. She will begin her third week on hunger strike tomorrow in an attempt to secure a public declaration from the Irish authorities that she is no longer a suspect in the ongoing money laundering investigation that followed the £26.5 million (€39m) Northern Bank robbery in Belfast, in December 2004.

At the time, she was working in Bulgaria providing support services to business people investing abroad. She was arrested when it emerged that her recent clients included Cork money lender, Ted Cunningham, and former Government advisor, Phil Flynn, who were also investigated.

She says the suspicion that has hung over her since has ruined her destroyed her reputation and career.

Mr O’Fearghaill said he had tried to convince Ms Nelson to give up her hunger strike and return to Ireland, where he believed she would be helped to rebuild her life.

“If she came home here to Ireland, those of us who know here would rally around her and support her. She has a lot of friends that she made here over the years. She would be helped to find accommodation and employment and generally supported.”

Ms Nelson was an inspirational teacher, Mr O’Fearghaill said, and could keep classes enthralled, which earned her a reputation as a larger than life character in Kildare.

“She could be quite unorthodox, but there is a big difference between that and being prepared to act in any way outside of the law,” she said.