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TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has said that the Tánaiste and Department of Foreign Affairs were involved in the case of John Downey, the man accused of carrying out the IRA bombing in Hyde Park in 1982.
Downey walked free from court in London days ago after a judge ruled that his trial should not go ahead because of a quiet agreement by the British Government not to prosecute IRA suspects who were on the run.
The Taoiseach confirmed that the Irish government was involved in the controversial ruling, which centred around letters given to dozens of IRA suspects telling them they were no longer wanted by the police.
First Minister Peter Robinson says he was not aware of the existence of the letters and has threatened to resign unless the 187 letters are rescinded and a judicial inquiry is set up.
In a statement this afternoon, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it was not involved in the process which led to the issuing of the letters .
“However, we have monitored this case very closely, including through the Embassy of Ireland in London, which provided consular assistance to Mr Downey,” the spokesperson told TheJournal.ie.
“This included attendance by representatives of the Irish Embassy at court hearings relating to his case”.
The Taoiseach said that the government had had to act carefully in the case.
“I think there was a degree of sensitivity surrounding the issue of the letters in the first instance [which] means we didn’t want to break down a process that had been put in train, and that was understood to be in train,” he said.
He said that the Assembly in Northern Ireland now had to decide how to deal with the issue.
“So I do hope that the executive and the Assembly in Northern Ireland will be able to deal with this in a pragmatic fashion, and that obviously the British government will respond in respect of its knowledge about this”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said their thoughts were with the families of the four soldiers killed, as well as those who were seriously injured in the bomb.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore is due to speak to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Terea Villiers later today and is keeping in contact with all party leaders.
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Climate change. Any bad weather is a direct result of global warming / climate change
@Christopher Byrne: Was It global warming that caused the flooding over a century ago or was it just a freak storm?
@Slippy ❤️: sarcasm mate…sarcasam. I live in Perth and we’ve has the coldest winter in the 6+ years I’ve lived here but Ive no doubt it will be reported as the hottest on record
@Christopher Byrne: higher average global temperatures result in more moisture in the atmosphere which makes storm systems powerful. So yes the strength of this storm was added today b the fact that GLOBAL temperatures are rising. Weather is a global system, it doesn’t care if it’s been cold in Australia lately. Some models suggest that Europe might actually get colder over the coming decades as a result of GLOBAL average temperatures rising if it continues.
@M: Yes, climate models. Very reliable they’ve proven to be….We can’t predict weather reliably 2 weeks in advance but we’re supposed to believe in these models forecasting 30 years down the track as gospel. Despite the fact most if not all of them have failed to accurately predict the future
@Christopher Byrne:
I think you’ve been living in the colonies for too long….mate.
@Tweed Cap: wow I don’t know how to even begin talking to you when you say something as clueless as that . climate is not the same thing as weather. Are you saying that releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere will not cause global temperatures to rise? …Why not?
@Christopher Byrne: don’t stray too far from home you’ll fall off the edge of the earth
@Christopher Byrne: I love listening to people who have read some articles and now know it all. Just proves studying and practicing science is a waste of time, we just need an opion
@Christopher Byrne: isn’t winter 2 months away yet? Also weren’t there record highs recorded in summer in parts of Oz? Also, true or false, don’t parts of Oz have a monsoon season and isn’t this just an extreme version of that?
@Dave O Keeffe: No, on all counts
@Boganity: I think you’ll find you’re incorrect on all points. Australian winter is our summer months. They had record temperatures over Christmas, and there is indeed a monsoon season in parts of Australia.
have your say