Sinn Fein chief says he met Catholic priest involved in 1972 bombing, didn't discuss it
The senior Sinn Fein politician in Northern Ireland's government acknowledged Wednesday that he did meet a Catholic priest responsible for a 1972 triple car bombing that killed nine civilians but insisted they never discussed the IRA attack.
A British government-sanctioned report last month into the Claudy bombing found that police, government and church leaders conspired to shield the priest, James Chesney, from prosecution amid fears that his arrest would deepen community divisions and increase violence.
The report put a renewed focus on Martin McGuinness, deputy leader of Northern Ireland's peacemaking coalition of Irish Catholics and British Protestants, who has long sidestepped his own record as the senior Irish Republican Army commander in the area at the time....
Read entire article at AP
A British government-sanctioned report last month into the Claudy bombing found that police, government and church leaders conspired to shield the priest, James Chesney, from prosecution amid fears that his arrest would deepen community divisions and increase violence.
The report put a renewed focus on Martin McGuinness, deputy leader of Northern Ireland's peacemaking coalition of Irish Catholics and British Protestants, who has long sidestepped his own record as the senior Irish Republican Army commander in the area at the time....