US court decision on tapes prompted SF leader’s arrest

A US court decision two years ago was the catalyst behind the arrest of Gerry Adams over the murder of Jean McConville. In 2001, Boston College, Massachusetts, began an oral history project aimed at documenting views on the Troubles.

Former republican and loyalist paramilitaries were interviewed about their roles in the 40 years of violence in the North. Author Ed Moloney worked on the archive with former IRA member turned writer and academic Anthony McIntyre. They were effectively sub-contracted by the college to undertake an initiative it agreed to fund and store.

The participants — ‘terrorists’ to some, ‘former combatants’ to others — took part on the understanding that their accounts would only be made public upon their death.