'Blair will be forced into Claudy bomb inquiry'
The British government will be forced to have a Bloody Sunday-style public inquiry into the 1972 Claudy bombings, Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley predicted today.
The North Antrim MP said in his Christmas message that recent police claims that the Government and Catholic Church shielded a priest suspected of the 1972 bombings which killed nine people had “cast a dark shadow” over the festive season.
“This Christmas has had cast upon it the dark shadow of the vile cover up of the Claudy massacre,” the DUP leader said.
“It should not be forgotten that by removing the priest concerned to Donegal, the church was giving him not only a cover up but also a sanctuary.
“When the Claudy atrocity was committed there were no extradition laws between the Irish Republic and the UK, although the UK had a law to extradite to the Irish Republic.”
Relatives of those killed in the triple car bomb attack in the Co Derry town were shocked last week when a police review team revealed former Northern Ireland Secretary, William (later Lord) Whitelaw and the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal William Conway discussed the case of Father Jim Chesney.
The priest was transferred from south Derry to a parish across the border in Co Donegal, even though he was a prime suspect in the bombing of the village of Claudy.
Just one man was questioned about the IRA car bomb in the Co Derry village, which killed nine people in July 1972, but detectives failed to charge anybody.
Fr Chesney, who was the suspected leader of the Provisionals in south Derry, died of cancer eight years later.
Mr Paisley said Protestants in Northern Ireland were right to believe there were two laws operating in the province: “one in favour of Romanist terrorists and the other harsh on law-abiding as well as law-breaking Protestants.
“Political expediency was the order of the day with the UK Government. What is blatant now is the silence of the Prime Minister and the Government as well as the silence of the Conservative Party.
“The attempt to continue to cover over the priest concerned is surely evidence that nothing has really changed. However the truth will out and the Government will be forced to have a public inquiry into the atrocity in line with the present Saville inquiry (into Bloody Sunday).
“The best service we can give to honour the innocent dead and their grieving loved ones is to see that the whole truth is told. That there can be no hiding place from justice must be the dedicated position of all right thinking people, Protestants and Roman Catholics alike.”
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble led calls for a Bloody Sunday style inquiry.
Nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan and Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin have also acknowledged the families of those killed and maimed in the attack need the full truth.
