Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the recent publication of the Police Ombudsman's report on the North. The report was an investigation into the police handling of certain paramilitary murders and attempted murders from 1989 to 1993.

This report found incriminating evidence of collusive behaviours between the police force at the time, the RUC, its special branch and loyalist paramilitaries. I start by addressing the fact that I know the report made a point of using the term collusive behaviours, but we should really just call it what it is, which is outright collusion. There is no doubt that what occurred here was collusion and although the report was, of course, a shocking read, it was hardly a surprising one. It was common knowledge that the RUC was working alongside loyalist paramilitaries at the time. It is long overdue for this to be recognised in an official sense, which has now been done with the publication of the Police Ombudsman’s report.

I welcome the publication of this report. As the ombudsman Ms Anderson said, the report shows that the families’ concerns regarding collusion were legitimate and justified. It is about time that these concerns are taken seriously and I am glad that the ombudsman recognised this. The report details a number of failings which led to the arming of the UDA with military assault rifles, failings in the handling of informants suspected of being involved in serious criminality and failings in the handling of police officers passing information to loyalist paramilitaries. The report also detailed the consistent failure of the police to warn individuals of threats to their lives, as well as the deliberate destruction of records relating to informants who were suspected of having been involved in serious criminality. It goes on to look at specific cases that demonstrated evidence of collusion, including the Castlerock murders, the Greysteel murders, the attempted murders of Patrick McErlain and James McCorriston and the murders of Malachy Carey, Daniel Cassidy, Bernard O'Hagan, Thomas Donaghy, Patrick Shanaghan, Gerard Casey and Eddie Fullerton.

Eddie Fullerton was a Sinn Féin councillor in my constituency, Donegal, and was murdered by the UDA in his home in Buncrana on 25 May 1991. This report shows that the police force in the North colluded with loyalist paramilitaries in the murder of Eddie. It has been found that the police passed on information that assisted the UDA in targeting him and that police officers assisted the UDA in crossing the Border back to the North following his murder. The police force then failed to assist the gardaí in their investigation into Eddie's murder, due to the fact that he was a Sinn Féin elected representative. They failed to inform the gardaí that the weapons used in the murder were also used in other loyalist attacks and they failed to give all available intelligence relating to individuals suspected of having been involved in the murder. Not only did the RUC assist in Eddie Fullerton's murder, but it also assisted in the cover-up of his murder. This is a clear example of collusion. There is no other word for it. Any suggestion that this is merely collusive behaviour is completely disingenuous and only serves to further hurt those affected by the collusion of the police and loyalist paramilitaries in the North at this time.

The silence from the South of Ireland, particularly the Irish Government, regarding this is deafening. I feel that sometimes the Irish State’s role in the North, and particularly the Good Friday Agreement, is forgotten. We must remember that the Good Friday Agreement was intended for the Republic of Ireland as well as the North. I do not think we take our role in the peace process seriously enough. It is up to us to support both communities in the North and to recognise that there is a community in the North that identifies with this State as much as we do. We need to ensure that fairness and equality are championed and that, should evidence of inequality come to light, such as this report, it is taken seriously and condemned.

Even though it was well known that collusion was occurring, very little was done to address issues in policing in the North at the time or indeed in the South. Although the violent coercion and witness intimidation of the heavy gang in An Garda Síochána has been well documented, it has never been properly investigated. I would call for a similar report in the South to investigate the heavy gang's activities within An Garda Síochána. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties states that rights-based policing should be at the heart of how our police force is run. This is what we should aspire to, North and South.

There is no doubt that the Police Ombudsman's report is damning. The report confirms in black and white that the RUC worked with informers who were part of loyalist paramilitary groups, that targeted individuals such as Eddie Fullerton were not warned of the threat against their lives, and that more than 80 people were murdered by loyalist weapons imported in an arms shipment that the RUC was aware of. Although the report gives evidence to what we already know, it is an important step in recognising and justifying the concerns of the families of the victims and an important step in furthering the peace process in the North.

The report is very clear about RUC collusion but it is important for us to remember that this did not happen in isolation. The British Government was controlling all these organisations through MI5, the police and paramilitaries. They knew what was happening and were not silent observers of the outcome of their policies. That is the big lie of the peace process that has allowed the British to somehow present themselves as innocent observers.

I hope that we in the South start to take a more active role in this process to ensure a fairer and better society across the whole island of Ireland. While there was collusion by the RUC, it was not doing this in isolation or off its own bat, but with the blessing of the British Government. The Irish Government and Parliament have to lay that out clearly. That has to be the final nail to link everything together, because it was part of British Government policy. Other Members have spoken about their surprise at seeing the British Government shutting all this down. I am not at all surprised. Why would it not shut this down? It is at the heart of this. That has to be shown all the way through this.

See this speech in context