Sargent calls for independent collusion inquiry

Green Party leader and spokesperson on the North Trevor Sargent TD has today responded to the Police Ombudsman's report into security force collusion in murders in the North in the 1990s.

"I am calling for an independent inquiry and Dáil debate on today's report," he said.

"I am also repeating my call for an Anglo-Irish Summit on the issue of collusion. Tony Blair has expressed 'regret' about the collusion uncovered in the Ombudsman's report, but with his Secretary of State Peter Hain simultaneously moving to rule out an independent public inquiry into the matter, such words mean little.

"Inevitably, an important question to be addressed is the impact of O'Loan's findings on the former chief constable, Ronnie Flanagan, who served in key roles in Belfast, and with the Special Branch, before taking over the top job in the RUC.

"Mr Flanagan continues to serve in an extremely sensitive position, with Britain's Chief Inspectorate of Constabularies.

"It is the responsibility of all parties to the process to ensure that the new policing structures guarantee that such abhorrent acts can never happen again. Lessons must be learned from this investigation."