February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Nuala O’Loan’s report has been welcomed by unionists. In it, she finds that the “Stormontgate” raids were not driven by a grand political conspiracy and were justifiable, but that the PSNI applied “totally disproportionate” force.
O’Loan’s report when it concludes that there is no evidence of “political interference” in the PSNI’s decision-making does not, and cannot, comment upon the over-arching political situation at that time. This is unfortunate for those who claim the raids were political. They point mainly to the quandary of Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble in the days before the raids and the politicized nature of PSNI Special Branch.
Trimble had only days earlier escaped from an Ulster Unionist Council meeting with his position as leader intact. Arch-critic Jeffrey Donaldson had, it seemed, finally backed Trimble into a corner. In an attempt to stem Donaldson’s campaign to have him ousted from the party, Trimble gave in and broke bread with the dissident. The up-shot was that Trimble committed himself to collapsing the political institutions that following January if the IRA failed to disband.
Both Donaldson and Trimble knew that such a demand was the stuff of fantasy. The Northern political process at times like these is all about the blame game. Had the Assembly struggled on to Trimble and Donaldson’s deadline and the IRA not disbanded Trimble would have been forced to walk away from government. Trimble would have been characterized as the man who connived to destroy power-sharing.
As it transpired the PSNI raids gave Trimble good reason to withdraw his party from government. O’Loan concluded Monday that PSNI Special Branch was not instructed by its political masters to instigate the raids to save Trimble’s hide.
Republicans claim she has missed the point.
They highlight that fact that Northern Secretary John Reid had been informed by the PSNI months before the raids that the IRA was alleged to be gathering intelligence at Castle Buildings. If this was the case then why were the raids delayed if, as O’Loan concludes, there was already sufficient evidence to justify a swoop?
Sinn Fein characterizes PSNI special branchers as inherently political — the old RUC’s “force within a force.” They allege that the Special Branch, schooled for years in the ways of political intrigue and accustomed to doing just what it liked, needed little encouragement to throw power-sharing into chaos. It is not inconceivable that the very men who dedicated their lives to countering the activities of the IRA would have serious problems with Sinn Fein at the heart of devolved government.
How are the recent comments of former special branch chief Bill Lowry — the man who oversaw the raids — to be interpreted? “The Provos did Castlereagh. Our reason for searching the Stormont offices was to regain ground, not to rub the Provos? noses in it,” he said.
Putting aside arguments about who called the shots, O’Loan’s conclusion that the PSNI had sufficient evidence to warrant raids raises serious questions for republicans.
Some republicans have suggested that the on-going IRA intelligence gathering is not an indication that a return to war is on the cards but is designed to prevent such a scenario. They claim that many members of the Northern security forces have sought to undermine the peace process and that IRA intelligence gathering acts as a disincentive to those who would seek to act as agent provocateurs.
However such activity can easily be seized upon by those opposed to power-sharing. If devolved government is to return then the cold war needs to come to sort of amicable conclusion.
Meanwhile O’Loan’s report makes difficult reading not just for Sinn Fein but for the UUP and the DUP.
The DUP said the PSNI raids were necessary to “protect democracy.” Unusual language from a party which has claimed the power-sharing arrangement was an undemocratic regime as it had not the backing of a majority of unionists. Many observers still believe that the DUP is prepared at some stage to sit down in government with Sinn Fein. The fact that the DUP has continually insisted that O’Loan is biased against unionists and ordinary PSNI officers also makes it difficult for the party to be seen lending too much credence to her latest report.
Meanwhile the UUP has greeted the report with understated seriousness. A far cry from leader David Trimble’s startling sound-bite that the Stormont spy-ring was “10 times bigger than Watergate.”
The somewhat muted response stands in stark contrast to the initial outcry over the allegations of an IRA spy-ring at the heart of devolved government. “Stormontgate,” it seems, has probably outlived its political usefulness.