Northern Ireland 2125?

I will use the multitude of names including Northern Ireland.

The review finding that there is no evidence UK security forces co-operated with the Ulster Volunteer Force to carry out the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan car bombings makes sense. If the British government wanted to kill people it would have taken out the pIRA leadership, who well well known, thanks to informers, MI5 etc. It would not have killed innocent peopole in Dublin and Monaghan.

When you cannot find anything incorrect in either statement, all you can say is that it is naive. How very childish of you.

The costly report found there is “NO evidence” of collusion between the British state and loyalist paramilitaries in connection with the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. The latest report also found there was NO specific intelligence that could have prevented the attacks, which claimed 33 lives.

As I said previously, that makes sense: if the British government wanted to use violence against Republicanism, it would have "taken out" the Republican leadership - of extremist Republicanism - in Belfast and elsewhere. It knew, through informers, MI5 etc, who the leaders were. I suppose it was above killing people in a pre-determined manner, and if it killed all the leadership it would have killed some of its own informers.

Some people would be of the opinion that as extremist Republicans had killed many British politicians - Neave, Bradford, Graham, Stronge etc - the British should have killed or taken out the pIRA leadership, who were well known, but it did not. Too soft for that they would say, so definitely would not have taken part in the murder of innocent people like in Dublin / Monaghan.

Names are funny things. I've always been curious but never really had anyone provide a reasonable explanation for Republican's insistence on referring to Republic of Ireland as, 'Ireland', to the exclusion of the other 6/32 of the island of Ireland? I'm surprised (and also glad they did not) call the country Eire. During the war, Eire was the name placed on headlands around the country. I remember stamps and coins with Eire on them. And Republicans take offence if you say Southern Ireland. Is not southern Ireland or Eire or the Republic of Ireland, the jurisdiction is just Ireland. Must be a little bit confusing for some foreigners, as they often then ask which part - north or south.

’No evidence found’ is not the same as there being no evidence.

Like the Bloody Sunday and many others the victims seem to want to fight on and I’ll support them in that.

Republicans have spent far and away the most amount of time in prison for crimes committed.

That means many investigations and much spending.

Unless you are suggesting they were jailed without investigation?

Oh wait, the British did that too.

Anyway not interested in debating this with an inveterate apologist for British actions here.

There were as many loyalists arrested and jailed during the troubles in N.I. as republicans, even though Republicans were responsible for 60% of the murders, and 99% of the bombings and destruction to property.

Tell me you don't understand the purpose of an Inquiry and why one might be needed without outright saying it.....

We will be waiting a long time until we find out how many in the Irish army or Gardai helped the pIRA in some way, although we know it did happen. We will never know, just as we will never know the full story of the Kingsmill massacre in 1976 for example, when ten innocent protestant workmen were shot by the IRA , because republicans will not co-operate with any enquiry.

The only collusion at government level with paramilitaries was the arms trial, here in Dublin, when government ministers and others were charged with illegially importing arms for Republicans in N.I.

Some would say the British government should have taken out the leaders of the pIRA in N.I. at the time, but they did not. Through informers , MI5 etc, they knew who they were. When they were too weak to take out terrorists, they certainly would not have killed innocent people of all faiths and none in Dublin or Monaghan.

It never said the 14 people shot dead were terrorists. It said the soldiers fired in self defence. Big difference. In a previous riot a crowd parted for a gunman to fire. As we all know there was some firing by republican paramilitaries on bloody Sunday. Even Fr. Daly (later Bishop Daly) testified in court he saw a republican gunman with a gun on Bloody Sunday. Tensions were high as the IRA had killed 2 policemen in Derry days previously.

Anyway, not going to be diverted in to a debate with you about Bloody Sunday yet again. The fact you cannot move on from Bloody Sunday, and just want atrocities on one side investigated (at a cost of hundreds of millions) but not on the other side, shows a U.I. is still generations away, if ever.

The Gardai helping the pIRA in that era simply doesnt make sense. You have to consider the history of AGS. At independence, what was the RIC was split geographically and rebranded as RUC and AGS. Even today, many "Garda families' are multigenerational police from the RIC days. Institutionally they hated the IRA and pIRA as they were enemies during the war of independence. While Im not saying that their wasnt the odd sympathiser in AGS, institutionally you cannot see them ever supporting or aiding IRA or pIRA activities.

Even though hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers money has been spent, we will never know the whole truth. Sure some of the Republican leadership can never even admit to being in the pIRA, never mind anything else.

Besides,

Of course all victims deserve the truth. Unfortunately however the pIRA / INLA never kept records, or if they do, they do not make them available. Did'nt the Republican movement in Belfast say Jean McConville ran away with British soldiers and deserted her children : her remains were only discovered by accident decades later in a beach in Co. Louth, uncovered by coastal erosion? They showed she was tortured after being abducted.

I have nothing to do with Bryson and am not triumphalist about anything. As I said, you just want atrocities on one side investigated (at a cost of hundreds of millions, as has been the case) but not on the other side, shows a U.I. is still generations away, if ever.