DR GARRET FitzGerald discloses in his Irish Times column today that he was told while Taoiseach of an IRA plot to murder Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The existence of such a plot was claimed in recent interviews by the former IRA man, Mr Sean O'Callaghan.
Defending Mr O'Callaghan against Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien and others who have been sceptical about the former IRA man's revelations, Dr FitzGerald writes: "From what I have read of his story, his account of his activities bears the stamp of truth - and to the limited extent of my personal knowledge of these activities, I can confirm what he has said."
He adds: "As Taoiseach, I was told of the plot to murder Prince Charles and Princess Diana and of how a key participant in the plot who was also an agent of the Garda Siochana - had managed to abort it without at the same time losing the trust of his IRA colleagues."
Asked last night how he had reacted to the information, Dr FitzGerald said he had faxed a message to Mrs Margaret Thatcher, then the British prime minister. "As I recall, she was on her way to Washington to address Congress. She was very pleased with the message and included several kind references to myself in her speech to Congress".
Mr O'Callaghan told the Sunday Times of December 15th that he was placed in charge of the proposed assassination of the Prince and Princess of Wales. "This went from theory to practice when an IRA researcher reported that the royal couple were going to be at a pop concert in the Dominion Theatre in London in July 1983," Mr O'Callaghan said.
He told the newspaper the IRA had given him £2,000 to finance the operation.