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Requests have been made to declassify all files related to the arms trial after it was suggested in the Dáil that Sean Mac Stiofan, a member of the IRA’s army council, was a Special Branch informant.
Seán Haughey, the son of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, has called for the release of the garda archives of the weapons trials after he suggested in the Dáil that MacStiofain was the person behind the notice about an arms shipment arriving at the Dublin airport.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said she would review and release all relevant records in her Department where appropriate.
However, he said it was not appropriate for her to “speculate on issues of that time.”
Ms. McEntee added: “It is difficult to see how different accounts can be validated or adjudicated at this time, particularly for most of those involved, who are no longer in a position to defend themselves.”
The minister said that the arms trial “was one of the most important political controversies in the history of the state, and it continues to be of permanent interest, despite the passage of 50 years.”
He said that some records related to the arms trial had been turned over to the National Archives in 2000. However, he said that some of the records could not be released because they contain confidential, misleading or potentially defamatory information.
Haughey said the Dáil had previously been “misled” about how the state learned of the imminent arrival of the arms run in the 1970s.
She said the House had been informed that she had been discovered by public officials who were “concerned about certain aspects of the paperwork” and said this incorrect version has remained in the Dáil’s file ever since.
“It is not satisfactory that the official record of any event, much less one as important as this is misleading.”
Hughey said a new book, David Burke’s Deception and Lies the Hidden History of the Arms Trial, “reveals that Mac Stiofain exploited his position to create mischief for his archrival, Cathal Goudling.”
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