AN IRISHMAN'S DIARY

"NO comment," said the spokesman for the Department of Justice some years ago. And that's off the record."

"NO comment," said the spokesman for the Department of Justice some years ago. And that's off the record."

Thus the official response to a serious press inquiry, and it just about sums up the Department of Justice's attitude towards the press. There is no Government Department which journalists dislike dealing with more.

Facts are yielded begrudgingly, if at all. Ministers come, and Ministers go, yet seem to: leave little impact upon the culture which appears to regard the press as an impertinent intrusion on its vital work.

The other day I asked the Department press office about the fate of Sean Kinsella, who was one of a gang of at least five men who set fire to the home of the Protestant Coulson family in Monaghan in March 1974.

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While they were about this heroic work, they were interrupted by Billy Fox, a family friend and a Church of Ireland Fine Gael Senator, who was engaged to Marjorie Coulson.

He was chased from the burning buildings across two fields, knocked to the ground and beaten with a blunt instrument, as the forensic evidence later showed - and then murdered where he lay.

He was the only member of the Oireachtas to have been murdered in these Troubles, and Ireland was shocked, especially because Billy Fox was vehemently republican.

Wiped Fingerprints

It was naturally assumed at first that loyalist paramilitaries were responsible. They were not. A local Provisional IRA unit did the killing, and were so methodical about their work they even wiped their fingerprints off everything before they left.

However, that unit was soon rounded up and confessed to the crime. It was straightforwardly sectarian and what was so deplorable was not just the murder, but the prelude to the murder, which was the culmination of a campaign of vilification. When Billy Fox had run for the Dail, a rumour was put about that he had been a B Special well, he was a Protestant, and was from the Border country, and if that isn't as good as being a B Special, what is?

The then Minister for Transport and Power, the late Mr Brian Lenihan, even repeated the B Special accusation in the Dail - an allegation he later withdrew.

Poor Billy's vocal republicanism seems to have earned him little protection against slanders; and brought him none against the gunmen and incendiarists of the Provisional IRA, who left him dying in a Monaghan field 21 years ago last March.

His killers later that year were sentenced to life imprisonment. One of them, Sean Kinsella, whose brother Michael participated in the murder, did not remain in custody for long.

He took part in an IRA jail break, and once at liberty rejoined his friends by active service, being sent to England as part of a terrorist unit operating in the Manchester area.

After he shot up a restaurant because it wouldn't sell him a bottle of wine, the police raided his flat and found a stack of ammunition, guns and explosives. He was arrested and imprisoned, along with a number of IRA men in England.

Back here, the rest of the gang of Fox killers were released from prison six years ago after a campaign to free them by Cardinal O Fiaich and Clones Urban Council. They had served 16 years in jail.

Escaped from Custody

No good would have come of further imprisonment, I freely admit: but would the good Cardinal and Clones UDC have been quite so active in their campaign if their victim had been a local Catholic politician and the killers Protestants? Myself, I doubt it.

Sean Kinsella had, of course, escaped from lawful custody years before and had never served his sentence for murdering Senator Fox. I had reason to believe he had been released by the English police, and asked the Department of Justice whether or not he had been sought by the authorities here, whether he was in jail, and generally, what had happened to him.

(I might add here that I am not arguing Kinsella should be reimprisoned. He has spent 20 years in jail as it is. I merely wanted to know what had happened to him, and whether the Department had taken any interest in getting back a dedicated terrorist whom it had so; carelessly mislaid.)

The first response of the Justice press officer was that the Department did not discuss individual prisoners. What? Even ones who had escaped from lawful custody?

A few moments' silence, then the press officer promised to look into the matter.

Two hours later - at about four o'clock - I rang to know whether or not Kinsella had been returned to the lawful custody from which he had unlawfully escaped.

I was told the press officer dealing with my inquiry had gone home. The new press officer knew nothing about my inquiry. That press officer made inquiries and said my request for information had been passed on.

I asked that press officer to let me know what could be discovered of the whereabouts of Kinsella before the press office closed that evening.

Polite as Pie

Anxious about the silence, which ensued, I rang back at "about five and was told there was no further news. I said, polite as pie, "Look, I don't want, to sound peremptory about this, but I do need to know what's going on; so please ring me back, whatever the news, even if there's none, before you go home."

The press officer assured me this would happen.

No phone call back. None. When I finally rang the Department, the press office had closed for the night. At no stage during the afternoon did a single press officer ever ring me back. And throughout my inquiries I was treated with an irritated disdain.

This did not surprise me. Irritated disdain is the Department of Justice manner towards the press.

I had spent an afternoon seeking information about an IRA terrorist who had escaped from the lawful custody of the Department after brutally murdering a member of the Oireachtas, and I received no help whatsoever. But it could have been worse.

I could have been told: "No comment. And that's off the record."