Blair must probe killing of nationalists: Adams

British Prime Minister Tony Blair needs to take brave steps to investigate accusations of collusion between the British state, its security forces and paramilitaries in the killing of nationalists in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams said today.

Following a meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin, party president Mr Adams said recent events, such as the collapse of the trial of a man accused of murdering Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane, left questions for Britain to answer.

And he said, the SDLP’s decision to join the board of the new Police Service of Northern Ireland, boycotted by Sinn Fein, was a ‘‘major tactical mistake’’ which let Britain off the hook while those questions remained unanswered.

Mr Adams said he had written to Mr Blair calling on him to act to investigate Britain’s ‘‘dastardly’’ past in Northern Ireland, and had spent the meeting at Government Buildings asking Mr Ahern to put pressure on Britain.

‘‘I think one of the issues for Mr Blair is the deep hurt within the nationalist community, that hundreds of citizens have been killed directly by British forces or indirectly through collusion by British forces and others, and there has never been an acknowledgement of this. The truth is yet to be told about it all,’’ he said.

‘‘This isn’t a case of bad apples, this is part of a strategy by a British Government - particularly during the Thatcher years - to take out opponents of the state,’’ he added.

Mr Adams renewed his calls for an international judicial inquiry into the murder of Mr Finucane by loyalists 12 years ago.

The trial of William Stobie, 51, collapsed last week at Belfast Crown Court when a key witness was deemed medically unfit to give evidence.

And former British Army agent Brian Nelson, who warned of the attack on Mr Finucane, was, in March this year, spared a trial in connection with the killing by detectives working under an inquiry headed by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens.

Mr Adams also cited the current inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, saying that Britain was ‘‘making positive sounds’’ about it but showing little hard action.

Bereaved relatives and survivors of the 1974 attacks, which killed 33 people and injured hundreds more, have accused Britain of dragging its heels in handing over security documents to the commission investigating the attacks.

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid said there were hundreds of thousands of documents to be sifted through before the correct ones could be disclosed.

But Mr Adams said: ‘‘The British government cannot parade itself internationally as a champion of human rights while in this country you have the kind of incidents in Dublin and Monaghan which have yet to be highlighted properly from within the British, or the case of Pat Finucane which is just a standing scandal.

‘‘Whether the British government cooperates with the inquiry is totally dependent on the political representatives of the British establishment getting their heads around the fact that the peace process needs to fed by people with some courage and vision who acknowledge what they did was wrong.’’