The Irish government need to provide a full account of astonishing reports that former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds was able to obtain £8 billion in EU money by using his clout to prevent IRA bombings in Germany.
The allegations are made in former Fianna Fail minister and journalist Conor Lenihan's latest book, "Albert Reynolds: Risk Taker for Peace," which also chronicles his own role in peace talks in the 1990s.
Albert Reynolds TD, who served as Taoiseach from 1992 to 1994, is said to have gotten vital backing for his EU funding request from German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on the promise that he would use his clout with the IRA to prevent attacks on UK troops stationed in Germany.
Reynolds, according to the author, saw the IRA as a threat to the Irish state.
Reynolds made his ambitious bid for EU funds at the 1992 European Council conference in Edinburgh, according to Lenihan's book.
Lenihan claims that “[German Chancellor] Helmut Kohl was the most influential political leader there,”
“He told Reynolds that he had a problem which he needed to solve. British troops stationed in Germany were being attacked and he asked the Taoiseach if he could help stop it by speaking to the right people... Kohl told Reynolds he would support his bid for funds if he could give assistance, as a quid pro quo.”
According to Lenihan, Reynolds called an old buddy who served as a backchannel between the IRA and the British. Reynolds then introduced his friend to Kohl, who told Lenihan that the Taoiseach's commitment to cease the attacks had impressed him.
The German Chancellor went on to advise the Taoiseach that instead of looking for £6bn funding, he should ask for £8bn. Reynolds did so and secured the full £8bn. It strengthened his position in Fianna Fail enormously.
If this is true, why hasn't the same influence been used to stop attacks against victims in Northern Ireland? It raises severe concerns for the Dublin administration
When claims regarding the role of the British Army and RUC during the Troubles have been made in the past, Dublin has been eager to demand all kinds of enquiries and information from London.
It is past time for Dublin to reciprocate and give a full account of exactly what was agreed between Albert Reynolds' administration and the EU, and if £8 billion was indeed handed over by the EU with German support in exchange for Dublin using its clout to prevent IRA attacks on British servicemen in Germany.
This fresh allegation comes a year after Fianna Fail TD Sean Haughey claimed that IRA Chief of Staff Sean McStoifan was a Garda operative and informer in the early 1970s.
We must consider this latest claim in the context of the pattern that emerged during the Troubles, in which the Republic's territory served as a safe haven for the IRA for decades, a storage facility for massive amounts of illegal weaponry, terrorist training camps, and a base from which to plan and launch numerous attacks across the border into Northern Ireland. Attacks that resulted in the deaths and injuries of many hundreds of people. To that list, we must add consecutive Dublin governments' refusal to extradite wanted suspected terrorists to the United Kingdom. When it comes to legacy issues, it is evident that the focus needs to be on Dublin, as much as it is on London.
Questions need to be asked: Why would that State not employ all available tools to put an end to the violence that resulted in the horrible murders of 15 innocent people [in Europe] and the bodily and psychological injuries of hundreds more?
Did any of the £8 billion windfalls end up in the hands of terrorists or their political or community-based offshoots?
It is a matter of public interest that the Irish Government be prepared (even at this late time) to explain the entire circumstances of the £8 billion received.
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