NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish Pubs Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Church, police covered up priest's role in IRA gang that killed nine in 1972 bombing

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Church, police covered up priest's role in IRA gang that killed nine in 1972 bombing

Posted on Monday, August 23, 2010 at 11:31 PM

Larger Text

E-mail

21 Comments

RSS

Archives

The Catholic Church in Northern Ireland has admitted that a priest was the leader of an IRA unit that exploded a bomb in 1972 that killed nine people, five Catholics and four Protestants including an eight -year-old girl. Thirty people were injured.

Police ombudsman (overseer) Al Hutchinson has verified that the Royal Ulster Constabulary the British government and the Catholic Church covered up for the priest, Father James Chesney (left) who was never charged and moved to a new parish.

Hutchinson revealed that the RUC at the time had top-grade intelligence that Chesney was a senior figure in the IRA unit that planted three car bombs in the County Derry village of Claudy in 1972.

The then Catholic primate of all Ireland , Cardinal William Conway, and the then Northern secretary William Whitelaw, were made aware by police of Father Chesney’s alleged involvement.

Chesney was subsequently moved to a parish in Co. Donegal but was never arrested or interviewed about the bombing or any other IRA activity. He passed away in 1980.

The cover up was discovered during a search through old cases by a Police Service of Northern Ireland investigator Sam Kinkaid.

Hutchinson has accepted the new documentation proves Kinkaid’s suggestion of a cover-up involving the RUC, the British state and the Catholic Church.

The current Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady has commented on the report today. Father Chesney was sent to to a Donegal parish under the jurisdiction of the late Bishop of Derry, Dr Neil Farren.

Bishop Edward Daly, was appointed to the diocese of Derry and Raphoe in the spring of 1974. Bishop Daly has also made a statement.

Kinkaid’s report showed that Cardinal Conway and an unnamed senior RUC officer were briefed on the attack right after the bombing.

As a result, Cardinal Conway held direct discussions with Northern Secretary William Whitelaw on the issue in December 1972, during which the Northern secretary made clear his knowledge and disgust at the priest’s involvement.

Conway was apparently worried that news of of Father Chesney’s involvement would allowed loyalist paramilitaries to declare all Catholic priests “legitimate targets”.

The IRA had attempted to issue a warning from nearby Dungiven, but were unable to do so because an earlier bomb had damaged the telephone exchange.

Standing outside the village hotel where the third device detonated, survivor Paul O'Kane recalls that day nearly 40 ago.

"There was absolute devastation," he told Sky News.

"It was like something you would see on the news now in Baghdad.

"There was smoke, there was a motorbike on fire, cars on fire, there were no windows left and there was nothing but moaning and groaning.”

Today Northern Ireland secretary, Owen Paterson, said: "For my part, on behalf of the government, I am profoundly sorry that Father Chesney was not properly investigated for his suspected involvement in this hideous crime, and that the victims and their families have been denied justice.

He added: "My anger at the actions of those responsible for the attack is matched in strength by my sorrow that the survivors of the atrocity and the relatives of the dead did not see those responsible brought to justice for their crimes.

"I recognise, of course, that all those involved in combating terrorism at the time were making decisions in exceptionally difficult circumstances and under extreme pressure."

In a joint statement Seán Brady, the archbishop of Armagh, and Séamus Hegarty, the Bishop of Derry, described the bombing as "an appalling crime", saying: "We accept the ombudsman's findings and conclusions."

They added: "Throughout the Troubles, the Catholic church, along with other churches in Northern Ireland, was constant in its condemnation of the evil of violence. It is therefore shocking that a priest should be suspected of involvement in such violence.

"This case should have been properly investigated and resolved during Father Chesney's lifetime. If there was sufficient evidence to link him to criminal activity, he should have been arrested and questioned at the earliest opportunity, like anyone else. We agree with the police ombudsman that the fact this did not happen failed those who were murdered, injured and bereaved in the bombings."

E-mail

21 comments

Previous Page 2 of 2 pages

Watchman | Aug 24, 2010, 04:21 PM EDT

I can't believe sometimes how many thoroughly nasty people there are who post comments on this site. George Dillon's hatred directed against both me and Realist is astonishing. In case he's reading this, I was in Claudy in the days after the bombing, reporting on what happened for the then Cork Examiner. Oh ... and in a town 79% per cent Catholic, five of the nine fatalities were Protestant, as were a majority of the injured.

Report abuse

citizen69 | Aug 24, 2010, 03:49 PM EDT

The reason the IRA didn't admit to this was because it was a PR disaster, they killed more catholics than protestants. The head of the Catholic church in Ireland already knew Fr Chesney was "a very bad man" yet they, & the British government colluded to move him a few miles away to Donegal...Some punishment!

Report abuse

GeorgeDillon | Aug 24, 2010, 03:39 PM EDT

Realist: Your stupid effort to interrogate me shows only your own ignorance of the history of the period. If you weren't too lazy to even google it, you would learn that the bombing of Clady coincided with the Operation Motorman attack of the British on the Bogside and Creggan areas of Derry. At the time that attack was said to be the biggest British operation since their involvement in the Suez canal fiasco. All of this is open and available, except for lazy slobs who don't bother to check their facts. As regards your effort to link me with crimes by priests, I have complained to the owners of this site. Ignorant fools like you abuse free speech because you're too lazy and stupid to do anything but throw empty slurs. Keep wallowing in it, it's about all you're capable of.

Report abuse

Realist | Aug 24, 2010, 03:04 PM EDT

GeorgeDillon: "sectarian mass murderer" sounds about right to me. What else would you call someone who planted bombs in country villages and was a senior member of an organization (the Provisional IRA) 70% of whose victims were Protestant? Also, who told you that the "idea apparently was to draw British troops away from nearby Derry City"? Only those who perpetrated this crime would know that - can't be the IRA as they denied it (as did Chesney during an interview with his Bishop). It then begs the question, how do you know? Lol….British troops attacking nationalist areas? If we’re talking threats to the nationalist community – look no further than the IRA, they top the charts for Roman Catholic deaths at 342. Are you an apologist for murdering terrorist priests only or do you defend the paedophile variety also? Just curious.

Report abuse

GeorgeDillon | Aug 24, 2010, 09:48 AM EDT

watchman: In calling this man a "sectarian mass murderer" you show your utter ignorance of history. Claudy is a village with a strong Catholic population, there was nothing sectarian about placing the bomb there. The idea apparently was to draw British troops away from nearby Derry City, where they were attacking the nationalist areas. Of course it was an act of criminal folly, especially the part where the bombers couldn't find a working public telephone to phone their warning, but your ignorant characterization of the event should not go unchallenged. Do us a favor, watchman, and study up on Irish history before spreading your ill-informed poison.

Report abuse

Watchman | Aug 24, 2010, 07:20 AM EDT

I am in France, Niall, and therefore ahead of you on the news front. But you are right. It would appear that the British Government and the Catholic Church, led by Cardinal Conway, colluded to conceal the truth from the Irish people. Like a paedophile predator, Father Chesney was simply foisted on another parish, this time among the good people of Donegal. Honest to God (and I am no believer), are there no lengths to which the Church will not stoop to protect its reputation. The RUC wished to proceed. They were prevented from doing so – this despite Conway's admission to Willie Whitelaw that Chesney was "a very bad man". So the people of Donegal were offered the Host by a sectarian mass murderer! I do not exonerate the British in this, though I can understand their reluctance, in the wake of Bloody Sunday, to deepen the divide between Catholics and Protestants in the North.but I do believe that the Irish Church has once more been revealed as a nest of vipers. Who could possibly support the hierarchy or the priesthood after the events of recent years?

Report abuse

Previous Page 2 of 2 pages