Ahern: Garda raids were to recover bank cash

The Government is convinced that raids carried out by the Gardaí were based on solid information that they were uncovering money from December’s £26.5m (€38m) Northern Bank raid, Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said today.

After a meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy, Mr Ahern said the Government was also still waiting to hear from the Provisional movement what they were going to do about ending paramilitary and criminal activity.

And both governments also reiterated their support for the family of murdered Belfast father of two Robert McCartney in their bid to bring his killers, believed to be IRA members, to justice.

When asked if money recovered by gardaí in Cork came from the Northern Bank robbery, Mr Ahern said: “Absolutely.”

He added: “I am not speaking for the Garda Siochanna or the Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland.

“It is the Government’s view and from our information from the Garda Siochanna, they are not pursuing any other line of inquiry.”

In a three-page communiqué produced by both governments in Dublin after their meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference, Mr Murphy and Mr Ahern praised the dignity and courage of the family of Robert McCartney.

Mr Murphy and Mr Ahern insisted the key to the family getting justice was whether people would be prepared to go to court.

Mr Murphy said they believed that there is intimidation of potential witnesses being carried out.

“We condemn that intimidation,” he added.

The Northern Ireland Secretary also said that he could not remember a time when republicans were under so much pressure politically.

“The Northern Bank robbery, the murder of Robert McCartney and other issues have brought this to a head,” he said.

“No one wanted this to happen. It would have been much better if we had been talking about the restoration of the Executive in Northern Ireland.”

Mr Murphy and Mr Ahern signed a memorandum of understanding which granted permission for the Irish language television station TG4 to be broadcast on a UK frequency to speakers in Northern Ireland.

The test transmissions will begin later this week, probably Friday, from the Divis Mountain on the outskirts of Belfast.

The move will excite thousands of Irish language enthusiasts who have been pushing since the Good Friday Agreement was signed almost seven years ago for the channel to be broadcast north of the border.

Both ministers also discussed the issue of illegal waste dumping north of the border, nationality requirements for public service posts and future developments at City of Derry Airport.

They also said they had agreed to consider the scope for more effective cooperation on a north-south basis between their governments in the absence of devolution at Stormont.