Debate contribution: The Troubles: Irish State Role

Debate contribution by Mr Timothy Gaston on 11 March 2025.

MLA

Mr Timothy Gaston

Party at the time

Traditional Unionist Voice

Date

11 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

The Troubles: Irish State Role

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4855856

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I commend the Ulster Unionist Party for bringing this important motion to the House. It is particularly pertinent that these matters should be raised on 11 March, which is a day on which people across Europe pause to remember the innocent victims of terrorism. The record of the Irish Republic when it comes to legacy is quite sickening. To date, it has sat back and acted as some sort of independent party that can equality-proof proposals from the UK Government. The reality is that, throughout the 30 years of terror, the Irish Republic was very much an active participant. I mentioned that today is innocent victims of terrorism day. Yesterday, I held an event to mark the occasion. Afterwards, a member of the public passed a member of my staff a booklet entitled 'Newry and a Border between "Truth & Justice"'. It contains many interesting facts and statistics, but I will highlight just one: a table obtained from the National Archives of Ireland containing stats supplied by the British Embassy in Dublin showing that, between 1976 and 1984, between 66% and 100% of the commercial explosive finds in Northern Ireland were manufactured exclusively by Irish Industrial Explosives Ltd. In 1976 alone, over 540 kg of Irish industrial explosives were discovered in Northern Ireland, accounting for almost 90% of the total that year. The Irish Republic has never answered questions as to why explosives from its jurisdiction ended up in the hands of republican terrorists in Northern Ireland and were deployed to murder and maim people with whom its constitution claims it wants to unite "in harmony and friendship". It is worth touching on the fact that, because the Irish constitution enshrined the aspiration of a 32-county republic, it was frequently and successfully deployed by terrorists who fought extradition to face justice for crimes here in Northern Ireland. The facts could not be clearer: between 1973 and 1997, there were 110 requests for extradition from the Republic of Ireland by the UK. Of those, just eight were successful. There has never been an investigation by the Irish Republic into how it operated as a safe haven for terrorists. There has never been any regard for the lives of the people of Northern Ireland who were murdered by IRA bombs. All of that was in the name of the 1916 proclamation, which claimed to cherish:

"all of the children of the nation equally".

There was not much cherishing of children when, in 1988, the Hanna family — Maureen, Robin and their six-year-old son David — were blown up outside Newry when returning from Disneyland via Dublin Airport because the IRA said at the time that it had the wrong description of a car. Who gave them that description? It was suggested at the time that the information came from the gardaí. However, to this day, Dublin has resisted demands that it come clean. When Smithwick concluded that he was satisfied that there was collusion in the murders of RUC officers Harry Breen and Bob Buchanan, there should have been a wider investigation of the links between the gardaí and the IRA. There has never been one. The Chairman of the Executive Office Committee quoted Kenny Donaldson, who made the point that, on the basis of research, there are between 550 and 570 killings that have a cross-border element. He added that, chillingly, victims of republican terror in border areas are, effectively, stateless when it comes to justice. To put it bluntly, Dublin does not care, and London does not want to rock the boat. Frankly, it is sickening that the Irish Republic, where the majority of republican attacks were planned, is the place from which incidents such as the Narrow Water ambush were executed and to which killers fled for sanctuary. The Irish Government continue to wash their hands of their role in the years of IRA terror while all the time presuming to pass judgement on the UK state. The Omagh bomb relatives deserve truth and justice from the Irish Republic, and so do the relatives and families of the 550 to 570 people whose murders were carried out with a cross-border element.

692 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Second assessment

Jev’s answers did not settle this record, so a second model, claude-opus-5-5, read the same text (without the MLA’s name or party) and gave its reasons on 21 October 2026. How the second assessment works

Verdict

Not flagged

Public interest or divisiveness

Mixed

Against the published rubric

The speech is a contribution to a debate on the Irish state's role in the Troubles. It sets out specific claims about that state's conduct: commercial explosives from an Irish manufacturer, eight successful extraditions out of 110 requests, the Smithwick finding of collusion, and the absence of investigations. It ends by calling for "truth and justice" for Omagh and cross-border victims. The language is heated ("sickening", "Dublin does not care") and there is a sarcastic jab at the 1916 proclamation, but the target is the conduct of a state and of the IRA, not nationalists or Irish people as a community. Its main thrust is a legacy accountability argument rather than a claim about which community's culture is winning or losing.

Public interest or divisiveness

The main function is to press for investigation and acknowledgement of the Irish state's alleged failings on behalf of victims, which is a recognised legacy and justice concern backed by evidence and the findings of a tribunal. It is also part of a familiar contest over competing accounts of the Troubles, with rhetorical point-scoring against Dublin "presuming to pass judgement on the UK state". Both elements are substantial, though the victims' justice demand predominates.

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:15 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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