Claudy bombing – Collusion claim is unsettling

The Claudy bombings of July 31, 1972, in which nine innocent people – five Catholics and four Protestants – were killed in Co Derry are now history, but they have an immediacy with the publication yesterday of the report of the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Al Hutchinson.

The report confirmed that a Catholic priest, Fr Jim Chesney, was suspected of involvement.

Detectives investigating the bombings wished to question the priest, but they were undermined by their own superiors.

Rather than arrest the priest for questioning, the leadership of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) essentially colluded with Northern Secretary Willie Whitelaw, and the Catholic Cardinal William Conway, to cover up the priest’s suspected involvement.

The RUC informed the Northern Secretary that the priest was not only suspected of involvement in the bombings, but also of being the IRA’s director of operations in South Derry. The Assistant Constable of the RUC asked the Northern Secretary to have Fr Chesney transferred out of Northern Ireland.

Mr Whitelaw informed Cardinal Conway of his disgust at the priest’s behaviour. The Cardinal reportedly told him that “he knew that the priest was a very bad man and would see what could be done”.

All essentially agreed that it would be best if Fr Chesney was transferred out of Northern Ireland, although the RUC Head Constable, Sir Graham Shillington, expressed a preference that the priest be transfer to somewhere in Tipperary, rather than to Donegal, where Fr Chesney was moved.

The Police Ombudsman’s report concluded that there was no evidence of criminal intent on the part of the police, the government, or the cardinal.

In essence, all three parties acted in good faith. “I accept that 1972 was one of the worst years of the Troubles and that the arrest of a priest might well have aggravated the security situation,” he admitted.

Regardless of their motives, however, there can be no doubt that there was collusion in covering up the crime. All of those individuals who were primarily involved in that collusion are now dead, as is Fr Chesney, who died of cancer in 1980.

“The morality or ‘rightness’ of the decision taken by the government and the Catholic Church in agreeing to the RUC request is another matter entirely and requires further public debate,” the Ombudsman concluded. The RUC failed to investigate a suspect “contrary to a fundamental duty of police,” he noted. If the senior police officers were alive today they would now be subject to investigation.

By placing this information in the public domain in a transparent manner, Mr Hutchinson hopes the report would enable a proper debate to take place in order “to ensure that similar actions could not occur without proper accountability”.

Cardinal Seán Brady, the Catholic Primate of All-Ireland, acknowledged that the Claudy bombing was an “appalling crime,” but he denies that the Church was involved in a cover-up by transferring Fr Chesney at the instigation of the RUC.

Even if there was no criminal intent in cooperating with the RUC, Cardinal Brady is seriously deluding himself if he thinks this did not amount to collusion. Such behaviour was no more acceptable than it would have similar collusion with senior gardaí in transferring a paedophile priest to Northern Ireland.