The price of peace (Northern Bank / Peace Talks)

[struggle4progress]

When £26.5m was stolen from the Northern Bank in Belfast just before Christmas, it proved to be no ordinary heist. The IRA were immediate suspects, and the political repercussions of the fallout have had an explosive impact on the Irish peace talks. Andrew Anthony reports on the shock waves from the most audacious bank raid in British history

Sunday March 6, 2005
The Observer

<snip> Orde's answer, three weeks after the crime, was to name the Provisional IRA as the prime and only suspects in the investigation. He says this was a purely policing decision, without external or internal political influence. But it was an unprecedented step, and considering the consequences, it's hard to think that he was not given some kind of green light by the Northern Ireland office, or even Downing Street. In any event, it would not be an overstatement to say that Orde's announcement shifted the political landscape of Northern Ireland. <snip>

Orde skirted the question when I put it to him, and it's notable Blair has avoided linking Sinn Fein to the raid. By contrast, Ahern has shown no such reticence. Much to the anger of Sinn Fein, he made public his opinion that Adams was fully aware of what was going to take place even as he sat across the table from the Irish PM during the negotiations on decommissioning. Another who puts Adams in the frame is the republican dissident Anthony McIntyre, a former member of the IRA who served 18 years in prison for killing a loyalist and is now one of Sinn Fein's most vocal tormentors. <snip>

His argument was that Orde, Blair and Ahern had all based their accusations on 'a single funnel of information that comes from the PSNI and the intelligence agencies'. He then outlined the dubious history of Special Branch, MI5, MI6 and the disbanded RUC, many of whose officers continue to work in its replacement, the PSNI. Of course, there is compelling evidence that the British intelligence services have in the past played a sinister role in Northern Ireland, conspiring with loyalist paramilitaries. But if, for argument's sake, the Northern Bank was British black propaganda, that doesn't explain why the Taoiseach is convinced of the IRA's and Sinn Fein's guilt. <snip>

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,1429724,00.html