The priest suspected of the Claudy bombing in 1972 met Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness shortly before he died, it was revealed today.
Police believed Fr James Chesney was the IRA’s director of operations in south Derry and was a prime suspect in the Claudy attack and other terrorist incidents.
Mr McGuinness confirmed today he spoke with Fr Chesney about the priest’s support for a united Ireland. However, he insisted the no-warning car bomb attack which killed nine people was never mentioned.
“I never knew Fr Chesney before Claudy. I never knew Fr Chesney for many years after the bombing,” Mr McGuinness said.
“I was asked, whenever I was told that Father Chesney was dying, I was told he was a republican sympathiser, would I go and see him and meet with him in Co Donegal.
“I did that. There was no mention whatsoever of the Claudy bomb. During the course of that, he just talked about his support for a united Ireland.”
Claudy happened six months after Bloody Sunday in Derry when Mr McGuinness was an IRA leader. He has denied the IRA in Derry was involved in the Claudy attacks.
Fr Chesney died in 1982. He had denied to church colleagues that he was involved in the bombings.
A report by the Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson last month claimed that senior
RUC officers, the Catholic Church and the British government were involved in a cover-up at the time when Fr Chesney, a priest in south Derry, was transferred to another parish across the Border in Co Donegal.
PA