by Thomas Leahy
51. Bradley with Feeney, Insider, pp. 96–9.
52. Operation Banner, point 527.
53. Former British soldier 1, interview with author, 26 June 2012.
54. McKearney, Provisional IRA, pp. 114–15.
55. Cf. Bew et al., Talking to Terrorists, pp. 73–5.
56. Bradley with Feeney, Insider, pp. 111–12; see a similar account in Hughes in Moloney, Voices, pp. 167–73.
57. Matchett, Secret Victory, pp. 98–9.
58. Bradley with Feeney, Insider, pp. 128–9.
59. Cursey, MRF, p.176.
60. TNA, FCO 87/4, Telegram from Steele to Woodfield, 13 November 1973, pp. 1–2.
61. See Appendix A.1.
62. Operation Banner, point 838.
63. TNA, DEFE 24/837, CR Huxtable loose minute to Northern Ireland Office on computer system for checking vehicles in Northern Ireland, 27 September 1973.
64. TNA, CJ 4/650, Note of a meeting at Stormont Castle to discuss the proposed Northern Ireland computer project, 23 October 1973; see also further debates surrounding who would control the system in TNA, DEFE 24/837, Draft of a document surrounding a computer system for information on suspects in Northern Ireland, 23 July 1974.
65. TNA, CJ 4/650, The use of computers in Northern Ireland in a security situation, undated minute, p. 2.
66. Hewitt, Snitch!, pp. 16–18, 148.
67. See similar arguments about the benefits of using agents and informers in Hewitt, Snitch!, p. 123.
68. Aldrich, GCHQ, pp. 498–500.
69. Aldrich, GCHQ, pp. 498–500.
70. Matchett, Secret Victory, p. 164.
71. Bradley with Feeney, Insider, pp. 13, 37–41, 140; Hughes with Moloney, Voices, pp. 36, 46–7, 56–7.
72. Moloney, Secret History, pp. 147–62.
73. Hughes in Moloney, Voices, pp. 190–3.
74. English, Armed Struggle, pp. 187–237.
75. See Appendix A.1.
76. TNA, PREM 16/515, Message from Frank Cooper to Prime Minister and Northern Ireland Secretary of State, 17 January 1975, p. 1 (italics mine).
77. Taylor, Provos, pp. 152–3.
78. Reference numbers 912, 940, 1020, 1233 and 1234 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives; see also Matchett, Secret Victory, pp. 49–50.
79. Barker, Shadows, pp. 87, 95.
80. See table for breakdown of population by district between 1987 and 1996, CAIN online: www.cain.ulst.ac.uk/ni/popul.htm.
81. O’Doherty, Volunteer, pp. 92–9; Conway, Southside Provisional, pp. 115, 124–5, 172; Ó Dochartaigh, Civil Rights to Armalites, pp. 250–3.
82. Conway, Southside Provisional, p.123.
83. Barker, Shadows, pp. 56–7.
84. Mulroe, Bombs, Bullets and the Border, pp. 109–59, 222–32.
85. Taylor, Provos, pp. 158–9.
86. Barker, Shadows, pp. 53–4, 71–3.
87. O’Doherty, Volunteer, pp. 124, 134.
88. Barker, Shadows, pp. 68–9.
89. Ó Dochartaigh, Armalites, pp. 249–52, 298.
90. Barker, Shadows, pp. 54–5, 79.
91. O’Doherty, Volunteer, pp. 98–9.
92. Conway, Southside Provisional, pp. 70–5.
93. Foley, Countering Terrorism in Britain and France, pp. 59–60; Omand, Securing the State, pp. 90–3, 260–9.
94. O’Doherty, Volunteer, p. 99.
95. Imperial War Museum Sound Archives (IWMSA), London, 13583, Bryan Courtney Webster, recorded 29 November 1993.
96. O’Doherty, Volunteer, pp. 95–8.
97. Mulroe, Bombs, Bullets and the Border, pp. 57–159, 222–32.
98. Mulroe, Bombs, Bullets and the Border, pp. 47, 81, 102, 121–99, 212–14.
99. Nash, Reid and Graham, Partitioned Lives, pp. 76–80; for opinion polls in the late 1970s showing sympathy for IRA objectives and, to a lesser degree, activities in borderlands, see Davis and Sinnott, Attitudes in the Republic of Ireland, pp. 26, 48–9, 110–14.
100. Nash, Reid and Graham, Partitioned Lives, pp. 76–80.
101. O’Doherty, Volunteer, pp. 115–20, 135–8.
102. Mulroe, Bombs, Bullets and the Border, pp. 87–98, 119.
103. Reference number 1511 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives; for McVeigh’s family’s memories of him see ‘Still Missing: Columba McVeigh’, The Disappeared of Northern Ireland: https://thedisappearedni.co.uk/index.php/missing.
104. Barker, Shadows, pp. 47–8; Reference number 979 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
105. Matchett, Secret Victory, pp. 49–51; Reference number 1432 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
106. Clarke, Border, pp. 105–15; Gerry Moriarty, ‘Scientist Provides Evidence Exonerating Robert Nairac of Troubles Killings’, Irish Times, 2 May 2017; Harnden, ‘Bandit Country’, pp. 293–312; reference numbers 1432 and 1932 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
107. Clarke, Border, pp. 105–15; MacDonald, Chosen Fews, pp. 158–84; Harnden, ‘Bandit Country’, pp. 293–312, 509–16; reference number 1292 and 1932 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
108. TNA, DEFE 24/837, Computer system for checking vehicles in Northern Ireland, 29 June 1973.
109. TNA, DEFE 24/837, Robert Fisk, ‘Army’s Computer Has Data on Half the Population in Ulster’, The Times, 5 December 1974.
110. TNA, CJ 4/3060, Letter from Roy Mason to Merlyn Rees, 21 July 1975; TNA, DEFE 13/914, C. E. Johnson to Secretary of State, 10 January 1975; and TNA, DEFE 13/914, ‘Progress Report on Operation Vengeful’, 10 January 1975.
111. See Appendix A.1.
112. See reference number 1932 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
113. Interview with former British soldier 1, 26 June 2012.
114. TNA, PREM 16/521, Note of a meeting held at the Irish Embassy in London, Wednesday 5 November 1975.
115. Conway, Southside Provisional, p.182.
116. See table for breakdown of population by district between 1987 and 1996, CAIN online: /www.cain.ulst.ac.uk/ni/popul.htm.
117. Interview with former British soldier 1, 26 June 2012; see a similar point in Matchett, Secret Victory, p. 192.
118. Harnden, ‘Bandit Country’, pp. 18–19; McKearney, Provisional IRA, p. 117.
119. See reference numbers 586, 587 and 588 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
120. See reference numbers 1224 and 1225 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
121. Harnden, ‘Bandit Country’, p. 471.
122. Harnden, ‘Bandit Country’, pp. 476–7.
123. For examples see Harnden, ‘Bandit Country’, pp. 468–79.
124. See Appendix A.1.
125. Reference numbers 528 and 529 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
126. See Appendix A.1.
127. White, Ó Brádaigh, p. 50.
128. Patterson, Ireland’s Violent Frontier, p. 15.
129. See Appendix A.1.
130. TNA, CJ 4/3474, Fermanagh and West Tyrone border study, January 1981, pp. 16–17.
131. Conway, Southside Provisional, p. 99.
132. TNA, CJ 4/833, Border policy and operations, 27 August 1975, pp. 1–5.
133. Harnden, ‘Bandit Country’, pp. 46–7.
134. McKearney, Provisional IRA, p. 116.
135. Nash, Reid and Graham, Partitioned Lives, pp. 6–129.
136. TNA, CJ 4/3474, East Tyrone area review, July 1980, p. 18, 42, 60; TNA, CJ 4/3474, Fermanagh and West Tyrone border study, January 1981, p. 15.
137. TNA, CJ 4/3474, South Armagh area review, pp. 19–20.
138. TNA, CJ 4/3474, Londonderry area review, May 1980, p. 34.
139. Mulroe, Bombs, Bullets and the Border, pp. 203–5, 230–1.
140. Mulroe, Bombs, Bullets and the Border, pp. 195–8, 203–5, 230–1.
141. Cf. Matchett, Secret Victory, pp. 30, 114–15, 187.
142. Mulroe, Bombs, Bullets and the Border, pp. 34, 108, 125, 157–61, 222–32.
143. Mulroe, Bombs, Bullets and the Border.
144. TNA, CJ 4/833, Cooperation with Irish security forces i
n borders, 27 November 1975, pp. 1–2.
145. TNA, CJ 4/833, Note of a meeting held at Headquarters Northern Ireland in Lisburn, 2 September 1975, p. 4.
146. TNA, CJ 4/2853, RUC–Garda coordinating committee report on South Armagh, February 1976, pp. 1–14.
147. Nash et al., Partitioned Lives, pp. 74, 97, 135.
148. McKearney, Provisional IRA, p. 116.
149. Clarke, Border, pp. 167–9.
150. Clarke, Border, pp. 174–9; McVerry was shot dead in November 1973. See reference number 962 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
151. Conway, Southside Provisional, p. 189.
152. McKearney, Provisional IRA, pp. 116–17.
153. O’Doherty, The Volunteer, pp. 116–19; see also O’Callaghan, Informer, pp. 62–84.
154. Interview with Laurence McKeown, Belfast, 4 February 2014.
155. Conway, Southside Provisional, pp. 1–5, 61–8.
156. Interview with Laurence McKeown, Belfast, 4 February 2014.
157. Harnden, ‘Bandit Country’, pp. 158–9.
158. McKearney, Provisional IRA, p. 117.
159. TNA, CJ 4/833, Secretary of State’s visit to south Down and south Armagh, 4 November 1975, p. 4.
160. Matchett, Secret Victory, pp. 12–13.
161. Matchett, Secret Victory, pp. 147–8 (italics in original).
162. UCD, FitzGerald papers, P215/94, Meeting between Reverend William Arlow and Irish Department of Foreign Affairs representative, 8–9 October 1975, p. 4.
163. McKearney, Provisional IRA, pp. 124–5.
164. McGladdery, IRA in England, pp. 75–6.
165. Bradley with Feeney, Insider, pp. 194–5.
166. O’Doherty, Volunteer, pp. 105–18.
167. Operation Banner, point 231.
168. McKearney, Provisional IRA, pp. 124–5.
169. McGladdery, IRA in England, pp. 57–68, 104.
170. Chronology of the conflict 1973, CAIN online, 8 March 1973: http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch73.htm.
171. McGladdery, IRA in England, pp. 62–4.
172. Clarke, Border, pp. 1–31.
173. Adams and Wilson, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, pp. 276–9.
174. Adams and Wilson, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, pp. 276–9.
175. Clarke, Border, pp. 1–31.
176. Hughes in Moloney, Voices, pp. 149–50.
177. Clarke, Border, pp. 1–16.
178. McKearney, Provisional IRA, pp. 124–5.
179. Moloney, Secret History, pp. 375–80, 711.
180. Interview with Tommy McKearney, Monaghan, 23 May 2012.
181. Moloney, Secret History, pp. 375–80.
182. Reference number 1449 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
183. Adams and Wilson, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, pp. 273–6.
184. Interview with Laurence McKeown, Belfast, 22 May 2012.
185. See examples in Adams and Wilson, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, pp. 267–72.
186. McGladdery, IRA in England, pp. 78–89.
187. Adams and Wilson, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, pp. 280–2.
188. Reference numbers 1198–1202 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
189. Reference numbers 1246–64 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
190. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, pp. 623–5.
191. Reference number 1536 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives.
192. Taylor, Brits, pp. 183–5; Wilson and Adams, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, pp. 284–7.
193. Barker, Shadows, p. 78; see a similar view in Taylor, Provos, p. 174.
194. TNA, CAB 134/3778, Minutes of a meeting held at 10 Downing Street, 4 December 1974, p. 4 (italics mine).
195. McGladdery, IRA in England, pp. 92–3.
196. White, Ó Brádaigh, pp. 220–2.
197. Cf. Adams and Wilson, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, pp. 267–87.
198. Cf. Operation Banner, point 848.
199. TNA, CAB 134/3921, Memorandum by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 18 February 1975, p. 2.
6 ‘Everything Is Compromisable after the British Declaration of Intent’: The IRA Returns to Ceasefire, December 1974 to December 1975
1. The words quoted in the chapter title were used by Brendan Duddy, the republican intermediary, to British representatives. NUIG, Brendan Duddy Papers, Pol 35/63, Brendan Duddy Diary: 1975 to 1976, 27 October 1975.
2. Cf. Bew et al., Talking to Terrorists, pp. 52–4.
3. McKee in Taylor, Brits, pp. 179–80.
4. Ó Dochartaigh, ‘The Longest Negotiation’, p. 3.
5. Mulholland, ‘Politics and Violence’, pp. 402–4.
6. NUIG, Brendan Duddy Papers, Pol 35/63, Brendan Duddy Diary: 1975 to 1976, 27 October 1975 (underlining in the original. Italics mine).
7. This point was recognised by representatives of the Irish state. See UCD, FitzGerald papers, P215/68, Discussion paper on negotiated independence, pp. 3–4.
8. Jonathan Powell, Great Hatred, Little Room: Making Peace in Northern Ireland (London: Vintage Books, 2008), p. 318.
9. NUIG, Duddy Papers, Pol 35/63, Brendan Duddy Diary: 1975 to 1976, 17 November 1975.
10. NUIG, Ó Brádaigh Papers, Pol 28/95, Joint statement to be released by Sinn Féin and Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee, 15 April 1977 (underlined in original).
11. For more information on these talks, see White, Ó Brádaigh, pp. 259–61.
12. NUIG, Duddy Papers, Pol 35/132, Brendan Duddy Diary: 1976, 12 May 1976.
13. UCD, FitzGerald papers, P215/94, Meeting between Bill Craig and a representative from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in London, 21 October 1975, p. 8.
14. UCD, FitzGerald papers, P215/94, Meeting between Bill Craig and a representative from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in London, 21 October 1975, p. 8; UCD, FitzGerald papers, P215/94, Meeting between Bill Craig and a representative from the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in Northern Ireland, 2–3 January 1975.
15. NLI, O’Mahony Papers, MS 44/167/2, Sarah Nelson paper to the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, ‘The Ulster Independence Debate’, January 1977, p. 6.
16. NUIG, Duddy papers, Pol 35/63, Duddy diary 1975, Duddy conversation with Ó Brádaigh, 14 October 1975.
17. UCD, FitzGerald Papers, P215/94, Meeting between leading UDA and Vanguard member and a representative of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, 28–29 January 1975, pp. 1–5.
18. UCD, FitzGerald papers, P215/87, Transcript of interview between Dáithí Ó Conaill and Mary Holland, 17 November 1974, p. 14; for further details of the meeting between the UVF and IRA see Margaret Urwin, A State in Denial: British Collaboration with Loyalist Paramilitaries (Dublin: Mercier Press, 2016), p. 114.
19. NLI, O’Mahony Papers, MS 44/160/5, Sinn Féin press release: the ban on Sinn Féin, 28 March 1973, pp. 1–2.
20. UCD, FitzGerald papers, P215/87, Transcript of interview between Dáithí Ó Conaill and Mary Holland, 17 November 1974, p. 18.
21. UCD, Conor Cruise O’Brien papers, P82/251, Transcript of interview with Seamus Loughran, 10 February 1975, p. 2.
22. UCD, FitzGerald papers, P215/94, Meeting between SDLP representatives and a representative from the Irish Department for Foreign Affairs, 9–10 April 1975, pp. 1–2.
23. NUIG, Ó Brádaigh Papers, Pol 28/67, Formal meeting between British and Irish republican representatives, 19 January 1975.
24. TNA, PREM 16/958, Telegram from Merlyn Rees to Harold Wilson, 29 November 1975.
25. NUIG, Brendan Duddy Papers, Pol 35/132, Brendan Duddy Diary: 1976, 22 May 1976.
26. NUIG, Brendan Duddy Papers, Pol 35/63, Brendan Duddy Diary: 1975 to 1976, 17 November 1975.
27. Taylor, Brits, p. 184.