Tomás Ó Flatharta

SECOND FRONT OPENED IN LEGAL FIGHT TO SAVE BOSTON COLLEGE ARCHIVES

Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre are pleased to announce that they are opening a second front in their fight to prevent the Police Service of Northern Ireland gaining access to the Belfast Archive at Boston College. In addition to the legal action currently ongoing in the federal appeals court in Boston, they have this week filed papers in the Belfast courts seeking a judicial review of the PSNI action alleging that the UK authorities are in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and the British Human RIghts Act of 1998. The Judicial Review asks that the British Home Office’s request of assistance from the United States be quashed, the subpoenas be declared unlawful, a discontinuation of the PSNI’s application for the material, and for an injunction stopping any material from Boston College being received by the PSNI. The two legal actions in Belfast and Boston emphasise our utter determination that the enormously valuable historical documents in the Boston College archive will never fall into the hands of anyone except those authorised by the terms of the solemn and unbreakable contracts we made with the interviewees. Ultimately these papers tell a part of Ireland’s recent troubled history and they should be used for no reason other than to educate and inform.

Judicial Review in Belfast is being undertaken in the name of Anthony McIntyre who will be represented by the firm of Kevin R Winters & Co. Kevin Winters is one of Belfast’s most experienced and able lawyers and we are confident that he and his colleagues will lead us to victory in this case. His contact details can be accessed via this website:

Kevin Winters

Details of our legal action and a copy of the deposition are contained in the attached blog post by Los Angeles academic
Chris Bray:

Boston College Subpoenas Challenged in Belfast – Chris Bray

This Judicial Review in no way affects the legal resistance we have undertaken in the United States of America and, guided by our able attorneys, Eamonn Dornan and JJ Cotter, we will continue to pursue our efforts there to stop this PSNI action in the federal courts. During our struggle in the U.S. we have won the support of many members of both Houses of Congress who have conveyed their deep concern about this PSNI action to the Department of Justice and the State Department. To all these people we send our deep thanks and reiterate our resolve to protect the Boston College archive by any and all legal methods available to us. And as we undertake this judicial review in Belfast we are confident that we will also secure the support of as many people in Ireland who are as deeply concerned about this PSNI action.

Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre Belfast July 5 2012