Statement by Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Operation Kenova

Ar an 19ú Meán Fómhair, d’fhoilsigh Rialtas na hÉireann agus Rialtas na Breataine creatcháipéis maidir le hoidhreacht na dTrioblóidí.

Bhí sé sin i gcomhréir lenár ngealltanas sa Chlár Rialtais chun gníomh agus fócas marthanach a chur ar an dtuiscint agus na naisc atá ríthábhachtach chun síocháin agus athmhuintearas buan a chothú idir gach cearn dár n-oileán.

Creidim go bhfuil síocháin agus athmhuintearas ar oileán na hÉireann bunaithe ar phlé oscailte agus macánta ar an am atá thart. Is cuid ríthábhachtach den chomhrá seo an foilseachán a phléimid inniu.

The Operation Kenova Interim Report is the fruit of nearly a decade’s work and compiles findings across Operations Kenova, Denton, Turma, and Mizzenmast.

Many of the details are uncomfortable. They relate to a terrible period in the history of our island. But my position, the position of my party and the position of the government as a whole is that the past must not be hidden.

It must not be allowed to be a forum where different groups present not just their own narrative on the past, but also their own set of facts.

Unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful in the past three decades in getting certain elements and organisations to be open and honest about the behaviour of their members and supporters – but governments must operate to a clear standard of openness and accountability.

Investigations such as this are required because of the terrible impact of these crimes on victims and their families.

They deserve our support and our recognition of how long they have been waiting to know the truth.

The Kenova report is an important step in delivering truth and transparency to these families. Despite this, as I have said repeatedly, it has not yet received the attention it deserves. For this reason, I very much welcome today’s discussion.

To start I wish to express my appreciation to Jon Boutcher, Sir Iain Livingstone and the whole Kenova team for the work that led to this hugely significant report.

Their investigation has followed over 12,000 lines of enquiry, taken thousands of statements, and interviewed hundreds of people.

They faced and had to overcome many hurdles to get at the facts outlined in the report.

As commendable as the level of detail, is the nature of their approach.

The Government has consistently called for a victim-centred approach to legacy issues. We should note that Kenova investigators worked to comply with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights and victim-led investigations.

It is to the team’s credit that their investigations earned the trust and support of many of those affected and have been recognized by families and victims groups as a paradigm for how independent historical investigations can achieve real results.

The Kenova report details at length an investigation into potential criminal offences committed by the long-time senior Provisional IRA member and British agent known as Stakeknife, as well as potential offences by members of the security forces in respect of Stakeknife and others connected to him.

The identity of Stakeknife is clear to everybody here and I have previously stated that the agent should be officially named by the UK Government.

Particularly because of his close relationship with those who like to refer to themselves as the republican movement, it is widely known that Stakeknife was Freddie Scappatici.

He was recruited by the British Army with whom he worked between the late 1970s and 1990s. He was a prized informant and during this period, the British Army dedicated a 24-hour phone line within its Intelligence Section to his calls.

Throughout this time Stakeknife was implicated in what were by any measure “grotesque and serious” crimes committed for and with the Provisional IRA.

This included 14 murders and the abductions of 15 individuals. The details uncovered by the investigation are harrowing, pointing towards shocking acts by the Provisional IRA including “torture, inhumane and degrading treatment and murder”.

The investigators further note that “these assaults and human rights violations were perpetrated to intimidate and subjugate the community”.

To intimidate and subjugate the nationalist and republican communities across the North - that was the Provisional IRA’s intent; that was the Provisional IRA’s practice. No amount of aggressive revisionist history from its supporters will ever erase their crimes against their own community.

It is widely accepted that the Provisional IRA were responsible for over 1,700 deaths in Northern Ireland. They were a scourge on all communities, including those communities they falsely claimed to protect.

More than 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, it is staggering as the investigators state “that republican leadership have failed to acknowledge and apologise for Provisional IRA’s murderous activities and the intimidation of families.”

In fact, things have reached the extreme position where public figures honour the Provisional IRA but launch legal cases against anyone who points to the vicious crimes which were committed.

As utterly abhorrent and shocking is the British Army’s knowledge of Provisional IRA’s activities.

The Kenova investigation extensively documents the fact that MI5 had sight of Stakeknife’s role within the Provisional IRA and its Internal Security Unit, and were involved from the outset in briefing Stakeknife through the Force Research Unit of the British Army.

The report details instances where murders “were not prevented or investigated when they could and should have been”. What we see is a profound failure where, in the report’s own words, “time and again, it would appear that protecting the agent outweighed protecting the life of a victim or protecting the right of their families to seek justice for the crimes committed against their loved ones.”

In some cases had the RUC or An Garda Siochána been alerted by the British Army to what they knew was happening, people could have been rescued from the Provisional IRA gangs which were torturing and murdering them.

While the activities of Stakeknife have dominated headlines, the full report also outlines the important findings of Operations Mizzenmast and Turma.

Mizzenmast is an independent police investigation into the murder of Jean Smyth-Campbell who was tragically shot dead in a car in West Belfast in 1972.

It uncovered significant information regarding the killing of Ms Smyth-Campbell which had been missed by previous investigations.

Operation Turma is an investigation into the murder of three RUC officers, Sergeant Sean Quinn and Constables Paul Hamilton and Allan McCloy in an explosion at Kinnego Embankment near Lurgan on 27 October 1982.

Operation Turma commenced in 2019. Alongside a detailed review of all the relevant information, the investigators adopted modern era forensic examination including the recovery of DNA material from the original crime scene.

It stands as testament to the rigour of the Kenova team that after more than forty years, an individual has now been extradited from this jurisdiction to Northern Ireland and is currently awaiting trial.

The skilled work of the investigators shows that prosecution for historic crimes is possible.

The full report also includes a summary of Operation Denton - a review into a series of sectarian attacks committed by a network of loyalists between 1972-1978, known as the Glenanne Gang cases.

Operation Denton examined 98 incidents on both sides of the border, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Dundalk bombing, the killing of Seamus Ludlow, and the Silverbridge attack.

It also examined a range of official and non-official inquiries including MacEntee, Barron and the work of the Oireachtas Joint Committee.

It is deeply regrettable that the full publication of the Denton report is not available and has been delayed. In particular, I want to acknowledge the continuing frustration felt by the survivors and families affected by these shocking and tragic events.

While we await the full publication of the Denton report, the summary remains important and offers official recognition that a network of loyalist paramilitaries and “corrupt members of the security forces”, primarily members of the UVF, working with members of both the RUC and UDR, murdered up to 120 people, among them those killed in Dublin and Monaghan in May 1974.

It is also the case that suspected and known collusion by individuals which is now confirmed in this Report, had a corrosive effect on confidence in wider state forces, to the detriment of all.

What we see in Kenova is British State Forces collusion with the Provisional IRA and, in the Denton summary, British State Forces collusion with loyalists paramilitaries.

In both cases this led to extensive loss of lives and enabled intimidation across communities and across this island.

I hope to see the publication of the full report of Operation Denton in the near future and will continue to report regularly on efforts to make this happen.

As I have said, the Kenova report confirms that legacy investigations can yield new and important information.

This was achieved through a combination of the dedication of the investigators, the positive relations and trust established with families and victims, and productive North South cooperation.

The report emphasises the positive role played by the Government including giving access to material held in this jurisdiction and close cooperation with Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.

At every stage the position of my government and every government I have served in is that we must have absolute openness and accountability.

We must demonstrate the standards which we are calling on others to meet.

The investigators also underline the essential role played by An Garda Síochána who “assisted with access to records and forensic exhibits and gave considerable help in making contact with witnesses and persons of interest.”

Guided by the principles of the Stormont House Agreement, the framework agreed by the governments aims to promote reconciliation and provide mechanisms for truth, accountability and justice for victims and survivors of the Troubles, and their families.

Reciprocal cooperation is at the heart of the Joint Framework. This includes the establishment of a dedicated unit within An Garda Síochána as a central point of contact for victims and families for Troubles-related investigations undertaken by An Garda Síochána and for cross-border cooperation on Troubles-related cases.

An Garda Síochána have further committed, where possible, to answer questions that a family may have in relation to the investigation of a Troubles-related incident and to provide a report to the family.

The Kenova report makes for difficult reading. It is a catalogue of tragedy, failure and hurt that affected all communities.

In setting out the activities of Stakeknife, it sheds essential light on the harrowing pain and loss caused to individuals, to their families, and through the systematic exercise of terror, to communities at large by the Provisional IRA. It shows the complicity of British state forces in allowing this to happen.

The material contained in this report has provoked strong emotions, and rightly so.

One of the great tragedies of Irish history and of the most recent conflict is how little concern people have had for the victims of their own side. For too long, different interests have demanded accountability from others but done nothing for the victims of their own side’s violence.

If you are sincere in wanting to build a real peace, reconciliation and shared future for all who share this island, then you cannot with any honesty deny so many people truth and accountability for the terrible crimes committed against their communities and their loved ones.

Though difficult, truth and transparency will remain pivotal to achieving lasting peace and reconciliation across this island.

The Kenova Report demands a frank and robust debate.

Go raibh maith agaibh.