A Long Way To Tipperary?
Today's Police Ombudsman report confirms the suspicions raised back in 2002 that the NIO under Willie Whitelaw colluded with the Catholic church to get Fr James Chesney moved out of Northern Ireland, when the police should have arrested the priest and put to him their suspicions about his involvement in the Claudy atrocity. The deficiency in the report is obvious - the Ombudsman's office was created to bring the police to account but the Claudy cover up requires a process which can bring the government to account.
There's speculation that Willie Whitelaw thought the arrest and charging of a Catholic priest at the time might prove just too incendiary, provoking retaliatory attacks on other clerics. Equally it's possible that the wily Northern Ireland Secretary decided that in the grander scheme of things it was better to have the Catholic church hierarchy indebted to him. But given that the grand old man of Conservatism died back in 1999, we may never know for sure, just as we may never know why the bombers picked a little village like Claudy as the target for their appalling attack.
One quote which leapt out at me was from the then Chief Constable Graham Shillington, who when told the priest had been relocated to Donegal wrote "I would prefer a transfer to Tipperary" as if an extra 200 miles would have made any difference.
With parliament in recess, the release of this report contrasts with the high profile launch of the Bloody Sunday conclusions, accompanied as it was by a prime ministerial apology. More inquiry reports are yet to come - into the murders of the loyalist Billy Wright (expected next month), the lawyer Rosemary Nelson and the Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill. But there's still no sign of an over-arching truth recovery process - the NI Victims Commission has suggested cross party talks to agree a structure, but there seems little will amongst the parties to embark on such discussions, let alone to drive towards a timely conclusion.
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