The US Supreme Court has ruled that tape recordings containing testimony from the late IRA bomber Dolours Price must be handed over to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The decision ends a legal battle to keep the interviews private.
The tapes were recorded as part of the Belfast Project at Boston College, which aimed to provide insight into paramilitary activity during the Troubles. They include interviews with Price, who was part of the IRA unit that bombed the Old Bailey in 1973, as well as loyalist David Ervine and republican Brendan Hughes.
The PSNI is particularly interested in material relating to the IRA 'disappeared' – more than two dozen people murdered and buried in secret graves. The legal proceedings were prompted by a newspaper and TV interview in which Price allegedly claimed involvement in the disappearances.
Project director Ed Moloney and researcher Anthony McIntyre had resisted the handover, arguing that Price did not make such claims in the interviews. Moloney said the supreme court had overturned a lower court decision. The PSNI has not yet commented on the ruling.
