[ad_1]
The late IRA chief of staff, Sean Mac Stiofáin, was an informant for the Garda Special Brigade and alerted authorities to the arrival of weapons that led to the Arms Trial, Fianna Fáil TD Seán Haughey said.
In demanding disclosure of state archives, the son of former Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey said an incorrect version had remained on the record for the past 50 years.
Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney were fired as cabinet ministers by Jack Lynch after they were allegedly involved in a conspiracy to smuggle weapons to the IRA.
In the subsequent weapons trial, the charges against Blaney were dropped and Mr. Haughey and the other alleged conspirators were found not guilty. Mr. Blaney claimed that the government at the time was aware of the plan.
“Fundamentally, Dáil’s record can only be clarified if the State confirms that the notice about the flight came from Mac Stiofáin,” Seán Haughey told Justice Minister Helen McEntee at a Dáil debate Tuesday night.
“The continued concealment of the stories of Mac Stiofáin as an informant amounts to endorsing and perpetuating his agenda, which was to disrupt and undermine democracy and aid the role of the Provisional IRA.”
It is about “perpetuating the deception of this House and belittling and smearing the memory of Captain James Kelly, an honorable soldier who should never have been tried,” and Colonel Michael Hefferon, director of military intelligence at the time.
Ms. McEntee has agreed to review and publish “as appropriate” any relevant records that may exist in her department in connection with the 1970 weapons trial.
Mr. Haughey acknowledged that some files in the possession of the state are still sensitive 50 years later, but “these files could be reviewed, perhaps by a superior court judge,” he suggested.
The Minister must “declassify all the files related to the information he handed over to the Special Branch,” he said, adding that the Dáil had been given an inaccurate report on how the state learned of the arrival of the weapons.
“It was claimed that the scheduled flight had been discovered by accident by public officials who were concerned about certain paperwork problems,” said the Dublin DT.
Haughey asked the minister to confirm that Sean Mac Stiofáin, a member of the IRA army council, was the informant who informed the Special Section about the shipment of arms to Dublin airport that heralded the arms crisis.
Sean Haughey: Dublin Bay North TD is the son of the late former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey, who was one of four accused of collaborating in a scheme to import weapons illegally for the IRA. File Photography: Nick Bradshaw
In response, the Justice Minister said that some records cannot be published by the state even now because they contain sensitive reports or potentially defamatory information.
“It should be noted that these files are subject to periodic review, including to decide whether they should be handed over or not,” she said, adding that it would not be appropriate for her as minister to “speculate” on the case.
He spoke at the Dáil on the 50th anniversary of the gun trial, which along with the related scandal engulfed the state in the early years of the riots and came to be known as the gun crisis.
“It’s hard to see how different accounts can be validated or adjudicated at this point, especially since most of those involved are no longer in a position to defend themselves.”
Government minister
Mr. Haughey Snr was one of four defendants at trial, including Captain Kelly, Colonel Hefferon and then-Cabinet member Mr. Blaney, accused of aiding in a scheme to import weapons illegally for the IRA .
The trial, the minister accepted, “was an important moment in our history, the repercussions of which continue to reverberate to this day” and sparked one of the most significant political controversies in the history of the State.
Many records of the gun trials were published in the National Archives in 2000. Haughey said Sean Mac Stiofáin had been identified in a new book due out Wednesday: Deception and Lies, The Hidden History of the Gun Trial, by David Burke .
“Author reveals that Mac Stiofáin took advantage of his position to harm his archrival, Cathal Goulding”.
He said that an incorrect version of events has “remained on the record of this House ever since. It is not satisfactory that the official record of any event, much less one as important as this, is misleading.
Ms McEntee said it would not be appropriate for her to speculate, but promised that “if there are records that can be published and reviewed,” they will be done and “will be published as appropriate.”
[ad_2]