Why the silence on British collusion in bomb terror?

IN my letter of July 6, I asked if the Reform Movement would add its voice to calls for the British government to comply with a request from the Oireachtas for information believed to be in the possession of the British state which would be of assistance in identifying those responsible for carrying out acts of terrorism in this state by loyalist paramilitaries, some of whom were believed to be in collusion with elements of British security forces.

In response, a former member of Reform, Niall Ginty (Letters, July 29), ignored the question posed, created a different issue and challenged me to respond. Claiming republicans were responsible for 590 more deaths than the combined total of all other groups to the conflict, Mr Ginty asked if I would agree “republicans have a lot to answer for”. Mr Ginty and others in Reform have consistently failed to acknowledge the issue of British state collusion.

Unlike the loyalist campaign of violence, which was assisted by various elements of British security forces, the Irish state did not assist the republican campaign. Clearly stung by my criticism of Reform, Mr Ginty joins the list of those who apparently reject the report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice that concluded “acts of international terrorism” were colluded in by British security forces, highlighting instances of British obstruction in investigating such crimes as the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the Miami Showband massacre.

Perhaps Mr Ginty might be more inclined to accept the findings of the British government-appointed Stalker/Sampson inquiry on the shoot-to-kill policy that was not alone state murder but also sectarian in nature.

Like the British policy of internment, loyalists were not targeted – just nationalists. Again, Mr Ginty might be more believing of the British government-appointed Stevens inquiry into collusion between loyalist death squads and state security forces which exposed the shadowy British intelligence role in the murders of Pat Finucane, Rosemary Nelson and many more. The retired Canadian Supreme Court judge Peter Cory also issued a report which found there was official obstruction by means of the withholding of critical official documents vital to the investigation. The fact that just 15 pages of the 3,000-page report by John Stevens were released to the public is hugely revealing.

The Dublin and Monaghan bombings resulted in the single biggest loss of life during the troubles. It is widely believed that security forces personnel of our nearest neighbour, Britain, colluded with loyalist bombers to carry out this atrocity and murdered citizens of this state. I again call on Reform unequivocally to support calls from the Irish Government for the British to assist in bringing to justice those responsible.

Tom Cooper

Knocklyon

Dublin 16