Inquiring into Collusion? Collusion, the State and the Management of Truth Recovery in Northern Ireland

The UFF was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). This helped the UDA retain its legal status until it was finally proscribed in 1992.

The Walker Report is so-called after its author, Patrick Walker, believed to be second in command of MI5 in Northern Ireland at the time (and later Director General of MI5 1987–92).

Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972, saw 14 unarmed civilians shot dead during an anti-internment march in the Bogside, Derry by members of the British Parachute Regiment. The first inquiry, chaired by Lord Widgery, exonerated the British Paratroopers and acted as a catalyst for conflict.

Rosemary Nelson was a well-known Lurgan-based lawyer who came to prominence acting on behalf of some republicans and taking actions on behalf of the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition against the RUC for their policing of the controversial Drumcree parade in Portadown (Root and Hitchings 2011). On 15 March 1999 Rosemary Nelson was killed in a car bomb planted by the Red Hand Defenders (a cover name for an amalgam of dissident members of the UDA and the Billy Wright-led Loyalist Volunteer Force). Following RUC intimidation and threats against defence lawyers fears had been raised for Rosemary Nelson's safety before she was killed (Cumaraswamy 1999: 190–6). There were widespread allegations of security force involvement in her death.

Robert Hamill was beaten to death by a mob of loyalists when he and a small group of friends were attacked on their way home from a night out in Portadown on 27 April 1997 (Cory 2004c). The sustained attack lasted for up to 10 minutes while armed members of the RUC sat and watched from an armoured Land Rover less than 20 feet away. The RUC initially claimed Robert's death was the result of a large scale gang fight.

Billy Wright was a leading Portadown-based loyalist and long-time Mid-Ulster commander of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). In 1996 he formed the LVF, a breakaway group of UVF members opposed to the loyalist ceasefire and the peace process. In 1997 Wright was imprisoned in the Maze prison where, on 27 December, he was shot dead by republican inmates, members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Again, there were allegations of collusion in Wright's death. There have also been longstanding, disputed allegations of Wright himself acting in collusion with British intelligence and RUC Special Branch in many killings of Catholics and Republicans in the Mid-Ulster area through the 1980s and 1990s (Larkin 2004; McPhilemy 1998).

In March 1989 two senior RUC officers (Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan) were killed in an ambush by the IRA shortly after they left an intelligence meeting with counterparts in the Garda (Cory 2003a). Members of the Garda were suspected of having passed on information of their movements. In April 1987 Lord Chief Justice Maurice Gibson was blown up with his wife when a bomb planted by the IRA exploded. The couple were crossing the border from the Republic of Ireland returning from a holiday. Again, there were allegations that information as to their movements had been passed from the Garda to the IRA (Cory 2003b).

See http://www.smithwicktribunal.ie/.

At time of writing, the HET actions in these cases are currently suspended and the subject of review by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.