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.