Collusion with loyalists was 'widespread' - Oireachtas committee

From RTE:

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said it is 'absolutely essential' that the British Government examine the findings of reports into collusion, and that it fully co-operates with all investigations into the serious issues that have arisen.

In a statement issued after the publication of an Oireachtas Committee report, he said its findings regarding collusion were 'deeply troubling and a matter of most serious concern', and painted 'a very disturbing picture'.

From the Pat Finucane Centre:

PFC researcher Alan Brecknell, whose father died in one of the gun/bomb attacks carried out by members of a UVF/RUC/UDR gang based at Glenanne in South Armagh, welcomed the report and called on the Northern Secretary of State to "release the documents which to date have been withheld from the Irish Government, NGOs and families. It's time to come clean on the links between the northern security forces and loyalist paramilitaries."    

The full text of the report is available here as a PDF file.

Mr Ahern mentioned today that another report, from the McEntee inquiry into the Gardai investigation of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, is due on 10th December. It's worth noting that both these reports cover the mid-1970s, the period after MI5 took over the lead role in the north from MI6.

The Oireachtas report will only intensify the kind of questions about MI5's role in the north raised by Suzanne Breen at the weekend:

Nearly a fifth of MI5's £1.3 billion annual budget is spent on the North. Its website material suggests tackling loyalist violence is hardly a top priority. Loyalist vigilante groups were "originally formed in the 1960s and 70s to defend their neighbourhoods against republican violence", MI5 says. This version of history is completely at odds with the Malvern Street shootings, the burning of Bombay Street, and the murder of countless Catholics. (Sunday Tribune, via Nuzhound)