Boston College has been subpoenaed by the British government to release secret transcripts of conversations with IRA operatives.
The British are likely seeking evidence against Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in one of the most controversial killings of the Troubles, that of Jean McConville.
The move is set to inflame Irish American opinion at a time when Queen Elizabeth is on the cusp of an historic visit to Ireland.
Jim Dwyer of The New York Times broke the story in his Friday column for the newspaper.
Jean McConville, a mother of ten, was named as a British informer by the IRA and was shot dead by them in December 1972. She was abducted and her body was buried in a secret location. It was found in 2003.
The British government request was for oral histories of at least two senior figures in the IRA and possibly as many as ten and was granted by a Boston court last week.
The testimony obtained by Boston College was given on the basis that it would be held confidential until the person or persons died.
That will not now be the case unless Boston College fights the release of the transcripts which they have given no firm indication they will do.
The move by the British is seen as a blatant attempt to secure access to histories that were given on the basis of confidentiality by major figures in the IRA war against the British Army.
Two of the tapes requested are those of Brendan Hughes, a former senior IRA figure now deceased and Dolores Price who was also a convicted IRA operative, and who is still alive.
In later years both had deep disagreements with Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein on the path taken towards the peace process. Price is now a senior figure in the dissident Republican movement and was questioned about the deaths of two British soldiers in Armagh in March 2009
The Times report says the subpoena reveals that a criminal investigation is underway into Jean McConville’s disappearance and that of others 40 years ago.
Gerry Adams has long denied he was a member of the IRA or that he had anything to do with the McConville disappearance though opponents claim he was a senior figure in the Belfast IRA at the time.
Yesterday Sinn Fein’s US representative Rita O’Hare told IrishCentral that Gerry Adams has always refuted stories that he had anything to do with the McConville disappearance and continues to do so.
She stated the subpoena was a “deeply worrying” development give that those who made submissions to Boston College did so on the basis of confidentiality and had no idea their words would ever be used in attempts at criminal prosecution.
There has been strong criticism of Boston College by Sinn Fein figures because they released much of the material they had for a recent book on The Troubles ‘Voices from the Grave’ by journalist Ed Moloney.
The material was collected by dissident IRA figure Anthony McIntryre who is also an historian and Sinn Fein figures have complained that his research was highly biased,
His interviews with former Adams confidante Brendan Hughes shortly before he died have proven very controversial.
Hughes had fallen out with Adams and made his bitterness known.
However, he made statements that made clear that he expected much of his testimony to be confidential.
On revealing his IRA membership he said;“I don’t have a problem with that...If I did have a problem with that, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking into the microphone. I think a lot of the stuff I’m saying here, I’m saying it on trust, because I have a trust in you. I have never, ever, ever admitted to being a member of the I.R.A. — never — and I’ve just done it here.”
This is the first time that secret archives have been subpoenaed in pursuit of a British criminal investigation into The Troubles and has sent a shudder through the academic world.
“This is our worst-case scenario,” Mary Marshall Clark, the director of the oral history research office at Columbia University told The New York Times
Anthony McIntyre, the researcher, said the British move was appalling “The damage it would do to research at the university would be unimaginable,” he said. “People will hold onto their secrets forever” he told The Times
The college’s John J. Burns Library is a treasure trove of Irish history and scholarship. They also hold the papers of the Irish decommissioning commission which succeeded in having the Irish paramilitaries give up their weapons.Those papers are sealed for 30 years but could conceivably now be subpoenaed.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Schon | Apr 08, 2012, 06:50 PM EDT
It is right for the murders of innocent people to be brought to justice. The PIRA's war was not with the British Army but with the majority population of Northern Ireland that wanted to remain British irrespective of their being Protestant or Roman Catholic. It should be remembered that the PIRA orchestrated an assassination campaign against Roman Catholic members of the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) and the UDR (Ulster Defense Regiment) with the intention of marginalising Roman Catholic participation in the security forces. These people were murdered because of their Roman Catholic religion by the PIRA. PIRA then orchestrated a campaign of intimidation of witnesses which necessitated the creation of the Diplock Courts. So it was PIRA policy that created the Diplock Courts. All murders should face the full force of the Law. The American government has reduced the civil right of American nationals in an attempt to prevent a repeat of a terrorist attack similar to 911. The British government was in a similar state with terrorist murders and bombing being a daily occurrence. Unlike the US today who is being supported by the British governments, the American and Irish governments during the 'Troubles' paid lip service in their support with their politicians supporting terrorists.
DaithiSuibhne | May 16, 2011, 11:20 AM EDT
This just goes to show with the Brits that 'the end justifies the means'. As you can plainly see they hold nothing sacred they'll even go as far as disregarding confidentiality of the press to try to pin a conviction on someone. They seem to put on the facade of being so high minded, so why do they neglect to supply the truth when it comes anything pertaining to N. Ireland, such as allowing troops to give testimony from behind a screen to veil their identity. Unfathomable!
christywalsh | May 16, 2011, 04:29 AM EDT
Realist No you contradict yourself, previously you said of those who received a Diplock conviction, "received open and fair trials (featuring rights of appeal) in British courts." You have obviously done no research --perhaps if you google my name you might find I know Lord Diplock more intimately than I can stand.
maireadinmelb | May 15, 2011, 06:08 AM EDT
REALIST - You have obviously done No research - DIPLOCK courts convicted Sands and all of those on the dirty protest! THese were not fair british courts - there was no jury there were minimal appeals and falsified police statements received more weight than 6 witnesses including members of the clergy (I know my cousin was convicted in one as a boy, not withstanding the fact he was in school at the time and the six teachers who taught him that day including 2 priests testified as to his being in school all day)All wars have victims but both sides should be punished and prosecuted! The British government labeled the IRA terrorists! Their actions broke their own laws, (much like modern USA) What differs government from terror organisations is the practice of following the laws we want others to follow.
hancock | May 15, 2011, 01:48 AM EDT
Paras anyone? What a joke.
christywalsh | May 14, 2011, 07:55 PM EDT
Realist Open and fair trials were not the practice of Diplock Courts and if one occured in was not intended. Recently former Hungerstriker Raymond McCartney was found innocent of the murder conviction for which he served 17 years. Lord Kerr in UK Supreme Court only last Wednesday declared that he should never have been prosecuted much less tried. Had Bobby Sands survived there is nothing to say that he too may have been framed.
hancock | May 14, 2011, 07:31 PM EDT
English terrorists , Irish terrorists. There is no difference. Lets see everybodys dirty laundry. You think that will happen?
mamaginnty | May 14, 2011, 06:48 PM EDT
Get a life citizen69, read up on when, why, and how, it started, and no one knows better than one who has lived it.
sirpeter | May 14, 2011, 03:50 PM EDT
Realist Lol..I never said she was a British spy. I have no idea if she was or not. There is no evidence that she was as far as I know.If there is no evidence then she was innocent as far as I'm concerned.Where did I say I agree with this killing?
Liamkeyes | May 14, 2011, 11:09 AM EDT
The word on the Street is that the Monaghan and Dublin bombings were carried out by M15.If Boston College release their information to the Brits it will do irreperable harm to the College plus all the other Colleges that have an Irish Studies programme. I would like to know how Harvard feels about this?????
Realist | May 14, 2011, 10:40 AM EDT
sirpeter: Lol...."You can't state Adams was in the PIRA until we have proof"? Yes, indeed. Perhaps then you could produce the proof that Jean McConville was a British spy? Remember, "Hearsay is not proof".
Realist | May 14, 2011, 10:34 AM EDT
maireadinmelb: I'm glad to see you advocating prisoner rights and the rule of law. I'm also proud that Mr Sands and his other nine 'comrades' who, out of attention seeking faux victimhood chose to commit suicide slimming for Ireland in 1981, received open and fair trials (featuring rights of appeal) in British courts. I wonder what choices were afforded the IRA's victims. Innocent civilian and 26-year-old mother-of-three Yvonne Dunlop springs to mind. In 1976 she was burned to death in front of her own 5-year-old son by hunger striker and convicted terrorist killer Thomas McElwee. Kindly Mr McElwee burned down Mrs Dunlop's children’s clothes shop (with her still in it) to help make Ireland free. Now remind me, how many prisoners did the Provisional IRA take? Did Mrs McConville receive a fair trial from her IRA captors? Who was her lawyer? Did she have right of appeal against her sentence of death? Perhaps the trial notes for her case are amongst the Boston College archives?
maireadinmelb | May 14, 2011, 09:57 AM EDT
Citizen 69 You reap what you sew! When did IRA numbers grow? after unjust and illegal acts of oppression were carried out on a people ~ similarly to the Palestinians today! Further ` IF the British wish to continue to push this line that they (the ira) are terrorists committing crimes and so justice should be done, it needs to go both ways!!! Where do you get your figures as to "majority killed by the IRA"? Add up the numbers killed by british forces including the state supported citizens groups like the b specials and UVF? No British soldier/police man has served time in prison for their illegal acts including torture, bullying and MURDER!! Ask Majella O'Hare's parents! IT has to work both ways! Considering that the British state still uses DIPLOCK _NON JURY courts they cannot demand that others follow their so called democratic laws when even they do not acknowledge that one is innocent until proven guilty! As Bobby Sands lay dying in the prison hospital - for political status, other republicans in british mainland prisons had full political status because they were in England. Same actions with the same organisations and funnily enough at that time the same parliament making the laws!!
citizen69 | May 14, 2011, 08:25 AM EDT
@mamaginnty: The nationalist (catholic) people didn't need help from the likes of the IRA. Remember the IRA killed more catholic nationalists than the British or the loyalists! What did the IRA achieve for the nationalist people? The IRA escalated the violence and sent many working class protestants into the ranks of loyalist paramilitaries. Look at Scotland today, they are much closer to having independence if they want it (although i dont think they will want it) because their debate on independence hasn't been sectarianized & polarized by terrorism. Peace or the unification of Northern Ireland with the Republic will never be achieved by terror. If you believe that then you must believe that the Taliban & Al-Quaeda are justified in their use of terror also.
citizen69 | May 14, 2011, 08:09 AM EDT
@maireadinmelb: Are the fourteen innocents shot in Derry more important than the countless other innocents killed during the troubles, the majority of which were murdered by the IRA? There have been, and there are ongoing inquiries into the deaths of those killed by the British & Loyalist side but to my knowledge none into the killings by the IRA. No inquiries into who ordered or took part in the many IRA atrocities. Is that fair? Some of these people are very likely now in government as part of Sinn Fein. If the IRA wont co-operate then it means only one side will eventually get truth & closure.
maireadinmelb | May 14, 2011, 02:45 AM EDT
NAME THE SOLDIERS WHO SHOT FOURTEEN INNOCENTS ON THE STREETS OF DERRY!! HYPOCRITES!!
maireadinmelb | May 14, 2011, 01:47 AM EDT
Well Sirpeter I suppose if Gerry Adams claimed responsibility for bombings and murders at ever opportunity they very well might but he, unlike Osama has always claimed the exact opposite. My guess Adams is not the saint he professes today but many of his generation on both sides have plenty of blood on their hands from their past sins and now wish to deny that past and live a very different future. But their are plenty on both sides who'll shed no tears when anyone from the other side leaves this world.
Aleeyne | May 14, 2011, 01:45 AM EDT
I wish the secret transcripts could be secreted away in secret Time Capsules that no-one can find for well over 100 years or longer. This subpoena move by the Brits is just stirring up the quiet seething and unrest that has never gone away and will make the Queen a sitting duck for some over-roused Irish retribution. Best she has her cup of tea at home. American repositories safeguarding transcripts must resist all attempts to release them. Brits love a good war and really want to control Erin's Isle and are looking for an excuse to go in with all their latest military might to achieve that end. Be very careful everyone.
seanomelbourne | May 13, 2011, 07:22 PM EDT
Another British witch hunt. The liars in Whitehall refuse to release details of the Dublin/Monaghan bombings or details on the murder of Rosemary Nelson or Finucane. a right royal Pack of hypocrites.
mamaginnty | May 13, 2011, 06:41 PM EDT
An IRA war against the british army. It was not the IRA that started this, The Nationalist (catholic) people needed help, we were being trampled on, just as we had been for decades. We thought bringing the british army would save us but no, we got shot in the back. Nobody ever asks...why or who... started this. The woman was an informer who got many people killed, male or female does not make a differance. It is sickening to know the british are at this behind our backs while sending their queen over for a cuppa. The british called us terrorists, we say rebels. when it suits their purpose, like Lybya, they are called rebels. Beidh me i gcónaí ar ár lucht múchta tacaiocht a throid ar son saoirse na hÉireann.
Trealach | May 13, 2011, 06:15 PM EDT
@Citizen - Get over it and move on. The Brits will just have to get over it too. There has never been a resolution to the British/Loyalist bombing in Dublin in 1981, which claimed the lives of so many.. Not ONE British or Loyalist person has even been questioned about it, nor has the British Establishment EVER co-operated in the enquiries. They want Justice? give us Justice - or get over it.
sirpeter | May 13, 2011, 05:12 PM EDT
Course LOL Aj Grimreaper wouldn't bother even asking Boston College to release the secret transcripts.He would just swoop in and take them in his James Bond 007 chopper if he was the Brits.No need to tell the American Government.Then If he found any evidence just swoop down on Gerry Adams house and just shoot him because he might be armed. This is a war on terror.After all the Brits called Gerry a terrorist.We got to get our man.No need for any legal proceedings.Gerry is much to well known for that.
PhlutiePhan | May 13, 2011, 04:35 PM EDT
In 1975, I was on board a US warship on a Mediterranean cruise. Two Brit officers came on board to work with anti-submarine warfare. One was friendly to myself of Irish extract. The other had lost two brothers on duty in Ireland to the IRA, They stated that the Brits wanted to give Northern Ireland back to form an Irish Republic. They stated that the reason that they did not was that the provisionals had taken over the IRA and had every intent of turning Ireland into a socialist state just like Cuba. I am for an Irish Republic. Gerry Adams is and never has been. There is no doubt that he has links to the provisionals and connections to the two recent deaths of Catholics who had signed to work with the police in Northern Ireland. I am a BC fan who says beat Notre Dame and show just who are the real Irish in North America.
Ajreaper | May 13, 2011, 03:23 PM EDT
The book is a very interesting read- I highly suggest it for those who are interested in that period of Irish history.
christywalsh | May 13, 2011, 02:57 PM EDT
Kilsally why do think it was right for the Security Forces to kill or permit to be killed innocent people or other members of the Security Forces? Who made that decision and what legal right had they to do it? And what makes you say IRA bad but Security Forces good --for doing the exact same form of killing??
christywalsh | May 13, 2011, 02:43 PM EDT
Kilsally if nothing else you conceded that the statistics of death are inconclusive. Your defence of Security Force use of Informers/Agents is also flawed --we know this because those handling Brian Nelson made their files and computers database available to the UDA --the UDA through Brian Nelson did not recipricate to our knowledge. That Informers/Agents and their Handlers saved lives -is often only based upon their say so. In probability they did save some lives --they were also instrumental in the taking of life or permitting it to be taken, for example, Philomena Hanna was 8month pregnant when she was killed by Loyalists. It is now known that the two gunmen and their driver were, all three, Informers. Their Handlers have never disclosed which informer was protecting which informer was protecting which informer --while the Handlers were protecting all three informers and not Mrs Hanna.
Kilsally | May 13, 2011, 02:14 PM EDT
Its not difficult to contemplate at all Christy - the choice was often blow the informers cover and stop an atrocity but then lose the informer who then went on to stop several atrocities or allow one atrocity to stop many atrocities. I certainly would not like to be making such decisions but I am pretty sure the US government makes the same sort of decision all the time in Iraq, Afghanistan and indeed in Ireland where the US ran an FBI agent in the RIRA. Your assertion that the security agents did the killing seems to neglect the fact that those activities would have taken place with or without the agent in place. THe role of the agent is to gather intelligence / infiltrate - not necessarily to stop attacks - that would be up to the bigwigs who may well be playing much bigger `games`! That would be the murky intelligence world for you.
sirpeter | May 13, 2011, 02:10 PM EDT
FallsRNat.Stop telling lies.She was not a protestant.She converted to Catholicism after marrying Arthur McConville, a Catholic man.After being intimidated out of a Protestant district.If you convert you are no longer part of your former religion.So you have no right to state she was a Protestant.You are using her to make it seem like she was killed because she was protestant.Try and tell the truth at least on things we at least know as fact. You can't state Adams was in the PIRA until we have proof..Hearsay is not proof. You are not fooling anybody who cares to check out what you post.
FallsRNat | May 13, 2011, 01:08 PM EDT
Adams was in PIRA, but this is irrelevant - the point is that an innocent protestant woman was shot & killed, he deserves to go to prison if he ordered/took part in the murder. This wasn't an informer, soldier, policewoman, that doesn't justify being murdered, it was an ordinary woman murdered because she was what Gerry - protestant, you tell us, the McConville murder hangs over all nationalist/republicans & is (quite rightly) a problem that won't go away - it's time her family were told the truth.
kathykelly | May 13, 2011, 01:06 PM EDT
Boston College must stand firm and not release the tapes.
Nicomax | May 13, 2011, 01:01 PM EDT
The Burns Library is an iconic structure beautifully situated on that bucolic campus. Its deep recesses hold vast stores of Irish history and the history of Irish-Americans, particularly in the Boston area. None will look kindly on the British governments searching through their archives.
citizen69 | May 13, 2011, 12:45 PM EDT
@Trealach: Typical republican response... Everybody else has to apologize and repent but not us, at least not until everybody else does exactly what we demand. Thanks, you've just proved my point.
christywalsh | May 13, 2011, 12:40 PM EDT
Kilsally -If the British think it proper that they be given access to the Bosten papers in the interests of justice and to investigate unsolved killings --then I hope tha Americans have the sense of fair play to demand that Secret Security Force files be disclosed into scores of killings throughout NI by their Informers/Agents and Handlers. This will include the deaths of fellow RUC Officers and Members of the British Army permited to unwittingly enter an ambush or man a security base which could have been evacuated. The Security Forces had no qualms about killing their own and that is an uncomfortable truth for many Unionists, such as yourself, to contemplate.
christywalsh | May 13, 2011, 12:30 PM EDT
Kilsally, If you acknowledge the seniority of British Informers/agents within the IRA --then at some point the penny will drop and you will realise that the British might well have been Commander in Chief directing many IRA attacks for which those you name were involved. The only thing that can be said is we know how many people were killed in the Conflict --we do not know by what hand directed all those killings --the Security Forces may well yet top the scale given they killed in their own right and used Loyalist and Republicans to kill for them.
Trealach | May 13, 2011, 12:19 PM EDT
What's good for the Goose is good for the Gander. The British and some so called/wannabe Irish people on this site have consistently said "All that is history - get over it and move on". Since the Queen isn't offering an apology for the carnage, the famine and crimes against humanity perpetrated in the name of the Crown in this country, then NO information and certainly NO apology should be given to the British - time they got over it and move on.
citizen69 | May 13, 2011, 12:18 PM EDT
@JeffGallagher: I'm sorry but you're wrong, the IRA killed more than the British and Loyalists combined during the troubles. Many ex IRA members are now in government in Northern Ireland but they don't want to give any truth about their deeds yet there are & have been expensive inquiries into the wrongs of the British (paid for by the British). The British Government have apologized to innocent victims, the Loyalists have apologized to innocent victims but still there is no apology from the IRA for it's innocent victims. I also wonder if you would feel the same way if the Boston College had candid interviews with Al-Quaeda leaders? Besides Boston College had already published some of this material that was supposed to be confidential.
Kilsally | May 13, 2011, 12:18 PM EDT
Even if you lump the Loyalist paramilitary killings with the Security Forces it is still only a third of all deaths attributable to The Troubles.
Kilsally | May 13, 2011, 12:16 PM EDT
Quite true christywalsh - British agents & indeed the FBI also infiltrated the IRA (Stakeknife, Denis Donaldson etc etc )and `helped them` / `colluded` with them to commit IRA terrorism as intelligence gathering measures - a very grey and murky black ops area but which ultimately helped save lives via the intelligence gathered.
christywalsh | May 13, 2011, 12:02 PM EDT
Kilsally: The figures you and the CAIN website quote are inconclusive. The Security Forces through a networks of Agents and Informers planned, participated in, allowed happen scores of attacks and countless deaths. In fact they were so calious in their planning that the Security Forces permitted the loss of their own men in bomb attacks --rather than take the risk that it might reveal a well placed informer. When the death toll for which the Security Forces contributed are finally counted they will not be close to those numbers to which you refer --as they will include killings by both Loyalists and Republicans. I remind you that Loyalists paramilitaries oft defending killing innocent civilians claiming that they were only as good as the information passed to them by the Security Forces.
slainte9 | May 13, 2011, 11:07 AM EDT
It so sad to read how the Irish and British wail about their troubles. From the British and Unionists who were in charge and ran the army and police are the victims? Terrible troubles... the sum total of whose violence doesn't add up to Arizona's in the same time span, a place where the "progressives" at Irish Central tell us the troubles are imaginary.
SheilaRed | May 13, 2011, 11:04 AM EDT
I didn't know the British government had the authority to subpoena records from US institutions. I thought we removed ourselves from their jurisdiction a couple of hundred years ago. Does this mean we can subpoena records in, say, Pakistan?
Kilsally | May 13, 2011, 10:49 AM EDT
Christywalsh, the IRA / Republicans paramilitaries were responsible for two thirds of all deaths durings the troubles and the huge majority of maimings and injured from their indiscriminate bombs. Visit the University of Ulster CAIN website for detailed stats. It is Sinn Fein in the main that continues to push for justice for various atrocities committed against nationalists whilst seeking amnesty for their own atrocities. Just look at Gerry McGeough former Sinn Fein & IRA now dissident who shot a postman 30 years ago , convicted last month to 20 years for attempted murder, but with time served on remand and the Good Friday Agreement he will serve 2 years and be released in months with Sinn Fein calling for his immediate release. which reminds me the IRA killed a woman census worker around the same time as SF-IRA were boycotting the census (didnt boycott it in 2011) and deemd a census worker a legitimate target (a bit like the dissidents deemed the polish pizza delivery man they shot recently a `british collaborator` for delivering pizza to an army barracks the night before the soldeirs went to Afghanistan)
ochshane | May 13, 2011, 10:38 AM EDT
Look out Jarry!
christywalsh | May 13, 2011, 10:33 AM EDT
This must be surely advance the argument for a Truth or Legacy Commission? The British cannot go looking for everyone elses dirty laundry while continuing to protect their own --expecially as they were the worst offenders.
Kilsally | May 13, 2011, 10:21 AM EDT
Yes a one way street for Sinn Fein and the AOH it would seem. Tullyvallen, Darkley Gospel Hall, Shankill fish & chip shop, Bloody Friday, Omagh, Teebane, Kingsmill, La Mon hotel, Europa Hotel , the list is huge, innocent civilians killed in thousands, the innocent civilian casualties as high as tens of thousands injured and maimed not a word about justice for those people.
donal1951 | May 13, 2011, 10:15 AM EDT
I am not at all concerned about what IRA members, former IRA members or members of Sinn Fein think about this. However, I am very concerned that this subpoena is a threat to academic freedom and to all oral history projects involving controversial figures. Mary Marshall Clark of Columbia University makes the point better than I.
JeffGallagher | May 13, 2011, 10:14 AM EDT
Citizen69, you are out if touch with reality. The British and their sanctioned paramilitaries killed far more people than the IRA did during the Troubles. But, the real point of this article is why will anyone speak to Boston College or any other keeper of history if the college is willing to go back on their promise? Why would I tell my secrets, however important, if I can't be guaranteed confidentiality in my own time. It is troubling that the British are asking for the information. It is even more troubling that Boston College appears to be willing to give it up without even the pretense of a fight.
citizen69 | May 13, 2011, 08:12 AM EDT
The hypocricy of Sinn Fein is beyond belief. They claim they want TRUTH & justice for victims of the troubles... They want truth from the British Army, they want truth from the government, they want truth from MI5, they want truth from the Loyalist paramilitaries.. but yet they want to hold on to their own dirty little secrets forever! According to S.F. everybody must come clean except the organisation which killed the most people by far: the IRA. When will the victims of the IRA be able to have closure? Adams has been revealed as a liar time & time again.