Dublin’s responsibility for Troubles bloodshed: the silence continues

Ian Sproule was murdered by the IRA in 1991.
By Alex Kane
Published 8th Oct 2020, 17:22 BST
The IRA riddled Ian Sproule's car with bullets at his home in Castlederg in 1991. They later produced a Garda intelligence file on Ian to justify their murder, something his family says demonstrates collusion.The IRA riddled Ian Sproule's car with bullets at his home in Castlederg in 1991. They later produced a Garda intelligence file on Ian to justify their murder, something his family says demonstrates collusion.
The IRA riddled Ian Sproule's car with bullets at his home in Castlederg in 1991. They later produced a Garda intelligence file on Ian to justify their murder, something his family says demonstrates collusion.

They sought to justify his murder by falsely claiming he was a member of the UVF and produced a Garda intelligence file to back up this false claim.

Successive Dublin Governments have been extremely keen to demand all manner of information and inquiries from the UK authorities, but when it comes to providing any kind of explanation relating to the hundreds of murders in Northern Ireland that resulted from incursions from the Republic – including that of Ian Sproule - there has been near complete radio silence.

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One possible reason for this has emerged recently as a result of the focus on the Arms Trial, 50 years on. Two books in particular have drawn on a number of contemporary sources and some very pertinent questions have been raised about the role played by Dublin at the very beginning of the Troubles. Questions which Dublin clearly does not want to answer.

Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

These questions include the precise role played by a Garda agent who was - according to Sean Haughey TD – the IRA Chief of Staff at the outbreak of the Troubles, the then Fianna Fail Government providing money which was to be used to provide weapons for Northern nationalists, Irish Army weapons being transported to Dundalk ready to be sent across the border, and weapons training provided at Fort Dunree in County Donegal.

These questions are backed up by quotes from those involved at the time in “The Arms Crisis of 1970: The Plot that Never Was” by Michael Heney. The late John Kelly, who became a Provisional IRA member and thereafter a Sinn Fein MLA, said of the Irish Government in 1969 - “They had the money, they were providing the finances…That’s the reason we had to run with the Irish Government for the arms, for the money for the arms.”

This tallies with Garda Chief Superintendent John Fleming’s evidence to the 1971 Dail Public Accounts Committee Inquiry that a recurring feature in Special Branch reports at the time was that money was on offer from the Dublin Government if a separate IRA Northern Command was created, free from the control of Cathal Goulding’s leadership.

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Dublin’s refusal to engage with regard to the investigation into who targeted Ian Sproule for murder is a continuation of its long standing policy of seeking to cover up the extent of what really went on south of the border throughout the Troubles. The Sproule family, like many thousands of others, deserve better.

Doug Beattie, UUP MLA for Upper Bann

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Related topics:QuestionsIRANorthern Ireland