Operation Kenova was deliberately undermined by the British state agency, MI5. The actions of the latter were designed to block the truth of Britain’s dirty war in Ireland. It is clear that the legacy investigations and reviews published as part of final report relating to Operation Kenova provide further confirmation of collusion, criminality and cover-up by the British state. Operation Denton confirms collusion between British state actors and loyalists in a campaign of systematic murder. Collusion was absolutely no illusion. Pat Finucane, the Glenanne gang, Sean Graham's betting shop, Loughinisland, Stakeknife - the list goes on. I was in the Widow Scallan's pub on the night it was attacked by loyalists. Hundreds of people escaped due to the fact a bomb failed to go off, but also as a result of the bravery of volunteer Martin Doherty that evening. Our thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones and those who campaign for truth and justice. I pay tribute to their courage in engaging with a process that often meant reliving the worst moments of their lives. I also pay tribute to groups like the Relatives for Justice that worked tirelessly for truth for the victims. I acknowledge there is no hierarchy in grief. All families are entitled to truth and justice. The findings in the Kenova report shine a glaring light on the lengths to which the British establishment and its agents were prepared to go to evade their responsibilities and to establish and handle loyalist death squads and undercover armed groups such as the Military Reaction Force. The British Government, MI5 and other state actors, have broken the law to cover up their parts in collusion. They did so by giving the green light in respect of what happened and by averting their eyes while innocent people were murdered and maimed. The British establishment allowed its agents and loyalist murder gangs to act with impunity and then left grieving families without any closure or information on the deaths of their loved ones. This cover-up continues, particularly as the British Government intends to use the joint legacy framework and new legislation to provide sweeping national security vetoes to shut down access to truth and justice and additional protections for state forces whose members supplied bombs and ammunition to the UVF, the UFF and others to carry out large-scale atrocities across the North and in the Twenty-six Counties. The Government cannot stand by another British-authored whitewash designed to conceal Britain's dirty war in Ireland, which claimed the lives of many hundreds of Irish citizens both sides of the Border.

Sentiment score: -0.05