Hi °C | Lo °C TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has hit back at Sinn Fein's Mary-Lou McDonald for saying there's a difference between the IRA killing gardai and RUC officers.
Mr Kenny has also heavily criticised former IRA members for refusing to testify before the Smithwick Tribunal into garda collusion and "own up" to their actions.
He says Gerry Adams keeps calling for a truth and reconciliation commission, but IRA members won't give information on murders. Mr Adams is claiming the decision by three former members of the IRA to give evidence to the Smithwick Inquiry is a "significant and unprecedented development".
However, what he claims is evidence is actually private interviews with members of the tribunal's legal team by IRA members, who then refused to appear before the inquiry.
Judge Peter Smithwick expressed his disappointment at the refusal of the IRA members to give evidence before the tribunal.
Mr Kenny said it was ironic that Mr Adams had issued an apology for the killing of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe – 17 years after the event.
"I also disagree with the statement by the deputy leader of Sinn Fein that it is a different matter to take the life of a garda than to take the life of a PSNI officer," he said.
Mr Kenny also hit out at the republicans' refusal to give direct evidence to the tribunal into collusion between the IRA and gardai in the murder of two RUC officers.
"Those who were engaged in the Smithwick Tribunal should now have the decency to give of the information that is necessary for the tribunal to do its work," he said.
"We all believed that these things were in the past and for the Sinn Fein leader to continuously call for a truth and reconciliation commission is something that could be applied now by those Provisional IRA members who have information on serious incidents and tragedies in the past that they should own up to," he added.
Mr Adams described the assistance that the former Provos gave to the tribunal as "historically unparalleled".
Despite his own denials of IRA membership, the Sinn Fein president repeated his calls for the establishment of an Independent International Truth Commission.
Secrecy
DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said Mr Adams cannot demand the truth from the State, the police and the army and then "hide behind a cloak of secrecy".
"Many people would conclude that there are double standards.
"Sadly, there are thousands of victims who would like to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones," he added.
"A good place to start would be if some of our leading political figures were prepared to set an example and come clean about their own involvement."
Irish Independent
