Boston College Debacle: Sacrificing U.S. Brokered Northern Ireland Peace Process
Written by Sabina Clarke
Irish American News
What is really behind the Boston College ‘Belfast Project’ Subpoenas? In a case now likely headed for the U.S. Supreme Court, the subpoenas, instituted by the British Government at the bidding of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI, requesting confidential IRA taped interviews connected to the murder of Jean McConville, a suspected informant on the IRA — the burning question is why and why now?
After a 40- year delay in a murder investigation that has lain dormant for years -— why is the murder of Jean McConville of sudden and paramount interest when there are more than three thousand unsolved murders in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.
The administration of justice in Northern Ireland has always been selective. In this instance, the motive is transparent — the prize is and always was Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, member of Irish Parliament, chief architect of the U.S. sponsored Northern Ireland Peace Process and chief strategist for Sinn Fein’s meteoric rise on Ireland’s national political stage.
Adams has been identified by former IRA dissident Dolours Price as ordering the McConville murder.
When Belfast Project participant Dolours Price was first interviewed by an Irish newspaper, she was deemed psychologically challenged. However, this seems irrelevant to the investigating commissions who are requesting all interviews—including the Price interview given in Boston College’s Belfast Project archives documenting The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
In an last ditch effort to stop the handover of the IRA tapes, the central figures in the Belfast Project , Director Ed Moloney and researcher Dr. Anthony McIntyre have petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States to hear the case.
For the Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI, who have never been fond of Adams, the subpoenas offer a unique opportunity to bring Adams down. Meanwhile in Dublin, the Irish government seems to be watching the spectacle unfold with an odd degree of detachment; with Britain undoubtedly thrilled at the prospect of embarrassing Adams.
Perhaps the Boston College subpoenas are as much about halting the trajectory of Sinn Fein’s unprecedented rise in national electoral politics as they are about stopping Gerry Adams.
However, if the Belfast Project tapes are handed over to Britain, the ramifications will be felt far beyond the borders of Northern Ireland and will reverberate on American shores. At the very least, the US sponsored Good Friday Agreement and the hard fought peace will likely unravel.
Where is the outrage when a foreign government, under the auspices of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, MLAT, has more power over American citizens than a U.S. law enforcement agency? Where is the outrage when tainted and politically motivated subpoenas are instituted under very suspect circumstances?
Where are the voices of the Irish diaspora? Their silence is deafening.
Boston College Subpoena News 