The Government would be handing over to the Saville inquiry into the Bloody Sunday killings secret intelligence files on the IRA, the Taoiseach said yesterday.
The inquiry's solicitors asked the Government for the sensitive intelligence files last December. During a brief visit to City of Derry Airport yesterday, on his way to Co Donegal, Mr Ahern said his view was to co-operate "as much as we can" with the inquiry.
The files are believed to contain information about leading members of the Provisional IRA, among them Sinn Fein's Mr Martin McGuinness, who was the IRA's second in command in Derry on Bloody Sunday. He is expected to give evidence in the autumn.
Mr Ahern said he hoped the handing over of intelligence information on the IRA to the Saville inquiry would lead to the British government handing over its files relating to the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings to the Irish authorities.