Bernadette McAliskey: How far did collusion go when Loyalists shot me?

I do so, not just because of my own experiences of the forces of Law and Order, but because it is not the business of any politician – especially a government minister – to call on any individual independent sporting organisation to become recruiting agents for the police, or anything else s/he might personally think people should join.

It is either an abuse to use that authority to add weight to a personal opinion, or alternatively, if made on behalf of the government of the Republic of Ireland, a gross interference in the internal affairs of an independent sporting organisation.

It is important, in the context of the perfectly valid financial contribution of the Irish government to Casement Park, to clarify that no inference of ‘political strings attached’ comes with that finance.

I noted no inclusion of the FAI or IFA, the golf clubs, yacht clubs or any tiddledywinks federation to do likewise.

Was there an assumption that Catholics, at whom the recruitment was aimed, don’t engage in these sports?

The reality of the experience of joining the PSNI for many of those not identifying as British or Unionist who did so – be they Nationalists, Catholics, people of colour, women, gay, lesbian or trans people – has been less than good.

There is also the very serious matter of collusion in the murder of Bellaghy GAA member Sean Browne, and the history of which that is an integral part.

Michéal Martin is, by all accounts, a decent man, and not without political intelligence.

He might want to let the PSNI do its own recruiting.

*****

There a few other things tumbling in my mind this week, all of which need time to settle, be sieved through and then shared in the greater depth they deserve.

They include the BBC journalists now owning up to the antics of the BBC in its coverage of the ‘Troubles’.

(I have never liked that word. It minimised and often trivialised what is happening).

The pen is mightier than the sword. ‘Sorry’ doesn’t make it all right for those who, as journalists, were power players in a dirty war game, and chose to comply with silence in order to protect their careers.

They, too, had alternatives.

The medals go to those who didn’t do the bidding of their masters – but then, they didn’t get to be BBC journalists of longstanding.

*****

I am still carefully reading and digesting the Kenova Interim Report.

While it does not tell us anything new, it may yet prove to be an iceberg that could sink several Titanics, even at the glacial speed with which John Boucher acknowledged the wheels of justice appear to move in the DPP.

I won’t hold my breath on either being allowed to happen without the brave persistence of those seeking truth and justice, without which peace is an illusion.

The Kenova investigations now cover some 102 murders that in some way relate to the use of State agents, and they lay bare what we all suspected of the active involvement of the State in the murder of its citizens; and the collusion of the State in prioritising protecting the identity of its paid agents above the lives of its citizens, including those in the paid service of the State.

The centre of the enquiry involves the small, tightly-organised Provisional IRA internal security unit, which now seems to have consisted not only of the infamous Stakeknife, but possibly of more British agents than non-agents!

In reading through it, I kept thinking of the cases that are not within the scope of Kenova, but which matter just as much to those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and who remain convinced that the perpetrators are protected in order to hide the truth when the State breaks the law.

The Legacy Act is increasingly exposed as a cynical exercise in covering the State’s complicity.

As a survivor of at least two attempts to bring my own existence to an untimely end, I also feel obliged to point out that while three members of the UDA were arrested and convicted, having belatedly pleaded guilty, their decision meant the evidence of collusion emerging from the early morning attack on my home has never been investigated.

The trio – mssrs. Watson, Smallwood and Grahame – drove to my home in a car legally hired in the name of a leading member of the UDA, who did not travel, on the production of that person’s licence, and the relevant documents bore his signature.

I presume the intention was to drive all the way back to Belfast and return the vehicle after a successful operation.

Neither the person who hired the car, nor the person who accepted the documentation, were not questioned under caution.

This information was freely provided to us by one of the RUC investigating team.

The guilty plea entered on the morning of the trial ensured that the military were not questioned about the time of arrival and duration of the presence outside my home of the Parachute Regiment who arrested the trio as they exited the house, rather than before they entered it, or why they provided no medical assistance.

The later arrival on the scene of the Argyll and Southern Highlanders saved our lives.

They were unaware of the presence of the Paras on their ‘patch’ before being directed to the crime scene.

The role of State agents within Loyalist armed organisations, like that within PIRA (and all other armed groups on the Republican Nationalist axis) has yet to be exposed, but it continues to beg one crucial question, as follows.

To what extent were 30 years of ‘Troubles’ – of death and destruction – orchestrated and prolonged by the unlawful activities of uncontrolled networks of individuals in the employ of British Military Intelligence, who were strategically placed both in the infrastructure of the NI law enforcement and justice system, and in the various armed organisations within the community?

How far up the chain of command and authority did knowledge go, and to what extent were the decision-making leadership of both Republican and Loyalist armed groups infiltrated?

This question should be adjudicated at the International Court of Justice.