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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Sordid tale of Boston College IRA tapes should now be over - Death of Dolours Price means no prosecution possible for British

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Sordid tale of Boston College IRA tapes should now be over - Death of Dolours Price means no prosecution possible for British

Posted on Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 07:20 AM

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Dolours Price

In Friday's Boston Globe newspaper, columnists Kevin Cullen states that he believes that the death of Dolours Price, the dissident Republican, meant that the issue of the Boston College IRA tapes was now over.

Price died of a suspected overdose in her Dublin home. She had suffered from mental health issues for many years.

The British government had been seeking the tapes in an attempt to link Gerry Adams to the murder of Jean McConville, an alleged IRA informer who was killed in Belfast in 1972.

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Price had apparently fingered Adams on the tapes but what use the word of a clearly ill woman would have been was never explained.

Cullen’s point was well made; the death of Dolores Price means she cannot give evidence against Gerry Adams in court which was the main reason why the British government wanted to seize the tapes.

The tapes were part of the Boston College Project which was intended to be an oral history of The Troubles but quickly turned into a Gerry Adams witch hunt led by project director journalist Ed Moloney who clearly holds Adams in great contempt for daring to sign up to the peace process.

Despite the fact that the Boston College project was allegedly an historical one aimed at creating an oral an archive of The Troubles the British government decided that their long time vendetta against Gerry Adams could be well served by seizing the tapes.

Read More: Boston College Irish tapes - the truth about Ed Moloney’s book and letting the cat out of the bag

Cullen pointed that without Price the tapes are no longer useful to the British and they and the U.S. government should now reach an agreement that no further tapes will be sought.

The timing is perfect as I wrote here last week. The new Secretary of State, John Kerry, is on the record as opposing the British attempt to gain access to the tapes. Now is the perfect time for Kerry to make clear to the British that they should give up their efforts to get the tapes.

The episode has been a sordid one from the beginning with the initial efforts to get Adams by the researchers followed by the British government efforts to use historical records to cause problems in the peace process.

There is enough death and destruction attached to The Troubles to last several lifetimes. Cherry picking cases or fomenting historical feuds is a waste of time

With the death of Dolours Price this episode can now be brought to an end. Hopefully John Kerry will take the opportunity to do so in no uncertain terms with the British.

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FallsRNat | Jan 31, 2013, 04:23 PM EST

Brit's greatest asset was Adams, the furore over the tapes that they weren't interested in getting hold of, was another round of republican angst, the brits sit back & play the long game, that's part of strategy, its in their interst that gezza comes out of this well, the big moment hasn't arrived for the last great PIRA to be exposed, the republican movement is so decimated that they don't know who to trust. You have to admire the brits, ulster still belongs to the UK, no republican terrorist cells left that are not riven by feuding or garda infiltration & despite the ceasefires & decommissioning the loyalist paramilitary structures are still intact. FF/FG are desperately trying to UK in the EU so they won't welcome a border poll in the next 20 years, Adams well whose side is he on, there is just enough uncertainty to make IR suspicious, but then it could be all smoking mirrors to protect someone else.

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seamus60 | Jan 31, 2013, 01:12 PM EST

Warrenpoint00. No sense you agreeing him right, unless you want both of you to be wrong. lol

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seamus60 | Jan 31, 2013, 12:39 PM EST

With all the hype from certain people that the whole episode was a big operation with one goal, to hammer Adams and destroy the peace process. Why no big sighs of relief ?. Because it was never about taking him or the process down. But there are those niave enough to still believe, should Adams or Mc Guinness fall so would the process. That says a lot for the process and all that it is portrayed as already delivering. Ruling by Fooling.

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seamus60 | Jan 31, 2013, 04:28 AM EST

Meanolgrouch. It`ll be your grand or great grand kids who will have to do the celebrating, thanks to the likes of Adams who have copperfastened the North as a part of their UK. He sure won`t be forgotten either as his systematic treason to the Republican movement is being uncovered.

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warrenpoint00 | Jan 30, 2013, 07:18 PM EST

You know what Risteard Millea, if you think your friend Gordon Duggan is right that is ok for you to think that way.It does not in any way mean that I think he is right.I honestly think, you are Gordon Duggan who is an anglo-norman and a tory tory.

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FallsRNat | Jan 30, 2013, 06:59 PM EST

ha, ha, luv it when you guys talk dirty. what a sad bunch of losers, oh seanomel, i would u more seriously if u weren't living & paying taxes in a british dominion, can't quite give up on them, just like your hero gezza.

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Meanolgrouch | Jan 30, 2013, 06:25 PM EST

We had some shell shocked GOP over here when THEY didn't win our presidential election, too. Most Democrats worth the name are supporting Adams, so it's a tad early for anyone to count him out. He's not gone, and he won't be forgotten either. I'll have to come for another visit to help celebrate when the island's finally reunited under a freely elected government that mule-kicks the Brits back to hell where they came from.

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seamus60 | Jan 30, 2013, 05:50 PM EST

Ristard. A tenth of what voted for Adams is hardly sending a clear message that will have him worrying about re election. Granted most times large crowds attended funerals Gerry capitalised, not so with this one. All in all when people are prepared to cast a vote for some one they know sheltered a peadophile and even tryed to endorse the same into the local political arena what impact will the death of a police officer have.

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Ristard Millea | Jan 30, 2013, 05:16 PM EST

Seamus, some people will vote for anything but the real people of Dundalk and Ireland spoke today at Garda Donohoe;s funeral when they lined the streets and shops were shut.

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seanomelb | Jan 30, 2013, 05:15 PM EST

Well Gordon Gerry did attend the funeral and gave his condolences on behalf of Sinn Fein and his electorate. AS you know Gerry is a tTD in the free state

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seamus60 | Jan 30, 2013, 04:14 PM EST

Ristard. 2,500 of them fellow officers representing all regions. Its a failed state otherwise SF would never have been able to make inroads.

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Ristard Millea | Jan 30, 2013, 02:19 PM EST

Gordan Duggan is right Warrenpoint100. Gerry Adams is not the only elected representive in Louth (only 15000 voted for him) and demoracy in the Republic of Ireland is alive and well (witness the 4000 people who attended Garda Donohoe's State Funeral today). If the Republic is a failed state then why has it lasted so long?

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curtisjohnson | Jan 29, 2013, 08:41 PM EST

@fallstherat – “I think we can honestly say that while people with your attitude are alive, there is no hope for peace in Ireland or anywhere else in the world” Yes, you can see Irish rather than british nationalism at the root of every problem spot in the world – Pakistan/Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Israel/Gaza, the Malvinas, Sudan, Zimbabwe, etc. LOL.

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warrenpoint00 | Jan 29, 2013, 08:09 PM EST

FallsR lad, you unionist/loyalist guys are just still seething about your little issue with your flag being torn down in Belfast.You all have laid very low with your comments regarding the terrorist violence surrounding this event which to me suggests you all condone it.Archaic views we all associate with loyalism, still stuck in 1690,you must look to the future FallsR even if it does not look to good for you dudes, you still may have to take that boat from Larne back to where you came from.I think Puffin may have gone there already.

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seanomelb | Jan 29, 2013, 05:36 PM EST

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