Group backs secrecy on NI tapes
12 March 2012
THE AMERICAN Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has warned that disclosing tapes from an oral history project on the Troubles would render Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre liable to execution.
The civil liberties group, in a submission to the US Court of Appeals, also warned that handing over tapes of interviews with republicans, including former IRA prisoner Dolours Price, to British authorities would also leave these interviewees facing possible execution by the IRA. “A culture of death to informants pervades both sides of the Troubles, and it has, unfortunately, survived the Good Friday agreement,” it stated.
The intervention through an “amicus brief” by the group challenging a US district court ruling that interviews be handed over was welcomed by writer, journalist and former director of the so-called Belfast Project, Ed Moloney, and by former IRA prisoner and academic Anthony McIntyre, who carried out the republican interviews.
The project involved taped interviews with former republican and loyalist paramilitaries being lodged with Boston College on the agreement that they would be revealed only on the death of the interviewees. However, the British authorities are now seeking disclosure of some of the republican tapes, including the interviews given by Dolours Price. Boston College is challenging some of the demands but not the requirement to hand over the Price tapes.
The group said the US government had “cavalierly” remarked in its defence of releasing tapes that “the Price interview by Boston College has been widely known for more than a year and nothing has happened” to her or Mr Moloney, Mr McIntyre or others.
“If disclosure is made, there is a grave risk that retaliation will follow,” the group said. It also said that, notwithstanding the peace process, IRA rules forbade the disclosure of secrets by its members.
While the Provisional IRA has ended its campaign of violence, the civil liberties group noted that the Real IRA, in a statement, said that it “unlike the Provos . . . [wasn’t] prepared to tolerate traitors”. It is reported that the PSNI is seeking the Dolours Price tapes to determine if it can shed any light on who murdered Jean McConville in 1972.
GERRY MORIARTY
Thu, Mar 01, 2012
Number of Visits: 4101
The latest
- Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War Doctor – 11
- 100 Questions/10
- The 23rd Commemoration Ceremony of the Martyrs of the Ansar al-Rasul Battalion Held
- A Narrative of Pakistani Pedestrian Pilgrims of Arbaeen in Sistan and Baluchestan
- Oral History Methodology/National Archives and Library Organization of Iran, Archives Research Institute
- Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War Doctor – 10
- 100 Questions/9
- Oral History News – Aban 1404
Most visited
- The Relationship between “Religious Jurisprudence” and “Oral History”
- Oral History News – Aban 1404
- Oral History Methodology/National Archives and Library Organization of Iran, Archives Research Institute
- 100 Questions/9
- Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War Doctor – 10
- A Narrative of Pakistani Pedestrian Pilgrims of Arbaeen in Sistan and Baluchestan
- The 23rd Commemoration Ceremony of the Martyrs of the Ansar al-Rasul Battalion Held
- 100 Questions/10
100 Questions/6
We asked several researchers and activists in the field of oral history to express their views on oral history questions. The names of each participant are listed at the beginning of their answers, and the text of all answers will be published on this portal by the end of the week. The goal of this project is to open new doors to an issue and promote scientific discussions in the field of oral history.The Importance of Pre-Publication Critique of Oral History Works
According to the Oral History website, a meeting for critique and review of the book “Oral History: Essence and Method” was held on Monday morning, November 10, 2025, with the attendance of the book’s author, Hamid Qazvini, and the critics Mohammad Qasemipour and Yahya Niazi, at the Ghasr-e Shirin Hall of the National Museum of the Islamic Revolution and Sacred Defense.Challenges of Interviewing in Oral History
After years of studying the theoretical foundations of oral history, conducting numerous interviews and going through their post-interview stages, as well as reading the available body of oral history literature, I was eventually given the opportunity to evaluate the edited versions of dozens of oral history projects.Comparing the Narratives of Commanders and Ordinary Combatants in the Sacred Defense
An Analysis of Functions and ConsequencesThe experience of the Sacred Defense cannot be comprehended merely through statistics or official reports; what truly endures from war are the narratives of those who stood upon its frontlines. These narratives, however, vary significantly depending on one’s position, responsibilities, and lived experience.
