Catholic Church living in denial - Campbell

THE Roman Catholic Church has been accused of being selective in its acceptance of inquiries into Northern Ireland's troubled past.

DUP MP Gregory Campbell spoke out after a retired bishop questioned last week's police ombudsman's report into the Claudy bombings which named Father James Chesney as the chief suspect for the 1972 atrocity.

Writing in a daily newspaper yesterday, former Bishop of Derry, Edward Daly, said he was "not at all convinced" the priest was involved in the bombings which ripped through the Co Londonderry village, killing nine innocent people.

Following on from an interview last week in which he stressed he had "serious doubts" about the allegations surrounding Father Chesney, Bishop Daly queried the conclusions of last week's report.

"The once-sacrosanct presumption of innocence has been dispensed with and replaced with a presumption of guilt," he told the Irish News.

"I am not at all convinced that Fr Chesney was involved in the Claudy bombings."

Bishop Daly also claimed Al Hutchinson's report "aired suspicions about him (Chesney) that were based solely on intelligence reports".

Reacting to the retired cleric's comments, Mr Campbell accused the higher echelons of the Roman Catholic Church of "living in denial" and pointed to the differing attitude of the church to Claudy, compared to the Saville report into Bloody Sunday earlier this year.

"People find it difficult to understand that in the past three months we have now had two major inquiries in the north west (into Bloody Sunday and Claudy) and Bishop Daly would have been relevant to both and made comments in relation to both," he said.

"One inquiry took nine years to conduct but was to a large degree dependent on the memory of people from 30 years ago, while the ombudsman's report examined material that was written at the time of the incident.

"Yet there appears to be a complete contrast in attitude to the two reports. Bishop Daly was enthusiastic in endorsing Saville, but seems not to be prepared to admit that Hutchinson could have been right. This leads people to the conclusion that it is more to do with the outcome.

"If the outcome is agreeable, it appears the Catholic Church would endorse it. If it is not agreeable, it won't endorse it."

Speaking one week after the publication of the Claudy report, the East Londonderry representative urged the Roman Catholic Church to step forward and bring closure to the relatives of the deceased by "openly admitting their part" in the atrocity.

Mr Campbell also reiterated his call to the prime minister to issue an "unequivocal apology" and for surviving members of the provisional IRA to tell the truth.

SIC: BNUK