A LEGAL CHALLENGE to the US government’s attempt to release of a series of interviews with former IRA members, conducted by researchers at Boston College, has been dismissed by a federal judge.
An appeals court will now decide on whether the interviews will be released, the Boston Globe reports.
The interviews formed part of Boston College’s Belfast Project, which took place from 2001 to 2006. The oral history project involved academics, journalists and historians conducting interviews with former republicans and loyalists about their activities during The Troubles.
Those behind the project have refused to release any of the transcripts in their possession, saying that interviewees had been promised confidentiality before agreeing to take part. They fear that releasing the material could place the lives of the interviewees in danger and undermine the peace process in Northern Ireland.
The transcripts, if released, would be handed over to the PSNI to be used as part of their investigation into the 1972 murder of Belfast mother-of-ten Jean McConville – the first of the IRA’s so-called ‘Disappeared’ victims. McConville’s remains lay undiscovered for over 30 years, until walkers on Shelling Hill beach in Dundalk came across them by chance in 2003.
Former IRA member Antony McIntyre and journalist Ed Moloney have argued that they will be treated as informants if the tapes are released to the PSNI and ultimately used as part of a prosecution.
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