Irish government remains silent for four weeks on claims it ignored warnings on 'IRA explosives factory'
The Irish government has maintained its silence for four weeks on claims that it refused to deal with an Irish factory whose explosives armed the IRA for over two decades – despite repeated appeals from the UK.
In the House of Commons on Wednesday Secretary of state Hilary Benn promised to raise with Dublin reports that explosives from the Irish factory were used by the IRA for bombs over two decades.
He was speaking after Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Alex Burghart told MPs that the UK repeatedly raised concerns with Dublin about the factory - but no action was taken.
Mr Burghart told MPs: “The Secretary of State will have seen reports in the Belfast Telegraph that, prior to 1985, a very large part of the gelignite used in IRA bombs was routinely stolen from a single factory in the Republic from County Meath.
“The supply amounted to many tons of explosives, and it took the lives of many hundreds of people.
“At the time, British intelligence repeatedly raised concerns with Dublin," Press Association reported.
“Nothing was done, despite the factory allegedly being in receipt of Irish state subsidy.
“Following these revelations, will the Secretary of State commit to writing to the Taoiseach to ask him to hold an urgent public inquiry into the Enfield explosives factory?”
He added: “This is an extraordinary missing piece of the puzzle in the story of the Troubles, in the story of how the IRA obtained weapons which killed people in our country.
“The Secretary of State is perfectly within his rights to raise this with his opposite numbers and to ask them to conduct a full public inquiry on behalf of the victims. Will he do so?”
Responding, Mr Benn said: “I undertake to the honourable gentleman and to the House, since he has raised the matter directly with me, to raise it with the Irish authorities, because they will have seen the exchange that he and I have just had.”
The minister added that one of the reasons for the Government’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill is to facilitate cooperation with the Irish authorities “in relation to all of these matters”.
He said we cannot undo the past, but we can provide information for those whose lives were lost as a result of the use of those explosives - by full co-operation between the Irish authorities and the Legacy Commission.
"We require the Bill in order to make that happen.”
The News Letter contacted the Taoiseach’s Office, Irish Department of Justice and the Irish Department of Affairs for comment just before 8pm on Wednesday, but none has been forthcoming.
Speaking in the assembly on 5 May, UUP leader Jon Burrows said nobody has ever asked who armed he IRA with gelignite for 10,000 bombs in NI in the 1970s and 1980s before they acquired Semtex from Libya.
He said that “tonnes of commercial explosions over many years ends up in the murderous hands of the IRA from a factory in the Republic of Ireland, an issue that was raised multiple times [in the Oireachtas] and little or no action was taken. Why is that?”
Again, the News Letter invited the three Irish departments to comment. Four weeks later they have still not responded.
The successor of Irish Industrial Explosives was also invited to comment.