By Bill Forry
Managing Editor
Boston College has appealed a US District Court judge’s order to turn over seven additional tapes from their Belfast Project archives to British authorities, opening up a new front in a complex, year-long battle to preserve the university’s pledge to keep the controversial records of IRA and Loyalists interview subjects secured — to the extent of US law— until the deaths of individual participants. The latest appeal, which will likely be heard in June, marks what could be a climactic turn in the legal struggle.

The showdown began last May when BC’s Burns Library — the repository of the Belfast Project tapes— was served with its first subpoena from the US Department of Justice, acting on behalf of a then-undisclosed branch of law enforcement in the United Kingdom. It has since been revealed that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) wants the tapes as part of its ongoing criminal investigation into the 1972 disappearance and murder of Jean McConville, a Belfast mother of 10 who was slain, allegedly by the IRA. The existence of the BC archives— which was supposed to be kept confidential— was revealed in public statements by Delours Price, one of the IRA members interviewed by the BC-funded project team in 2001.
In December, US Judge William Young— after reviewing the contents of the Price tape — ordered BC to give the materials over to the PSNI, a ruling that BC opted not to challenge. (Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre, two men considered the principal engineers of the Belfast Project, are fighting the Price tape’s release. Their appeal to stay Young’s order on the Prince tape is scheduled to be heard in April.) BC officials, however, note that Price had already broken her own agreement with the university and the Belfast Project to keep the tapes’ existence confidential.
Jack Dunn, a spokesman for BC, said the university could find “no basis upon which to appeal” the Price ruling, particularly because Price had spoken out publicly in media interviews about her involvement in the McConville case. In Price’s public comments about the murder, she also said that Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, ordered the McConville murder, a charge that Adams has denied.
“[Price’s] statements made her interests in upholding the secrecy of the interviews less than compelling the Court,” Dunn said.
More recently, Judge Young was asked to rule on whether the remaining cache of 24 IRA-related tapes should also be conveyed to the PSNI. Judge Young— at BC’s request— first reviewed the tapes in his court chambers and, subsequently ruled that seven of the tapes contained some reference to the McConville case and should be sent to Northern Ireland detectives.
This time, BC has balked at the judge’s order, noting that Young’s own ruling— dated Jan. 20, 2012 —indicated that there was little or no value to the tapes in his opinion.
“The judge admits that just one of the seven provides information that is responsive to the specific case requested by the British authorities,” said BC spokesman Jack Dunn in an interview with the Reporter. “The six others made only a passing reference of Jean McConville. Given this apparent lack of probative value to the criminal investigation, it made sense to appeal the second court order.”
Dunn said that Boston College will “argue that the District Court incorrectly applied its own review standard when it demanded the production of the interviews of these seven individuals.”
“From the beginning, Boston College has asked Judge Young to weigh our interest in protecting academic research with the government’s interest in meeting its Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty obligation with the United Kingdom,” a reference to the treaty that has — so far— trumped BC’s appeal to maintain the confidentiality of the archives.
“Our intention was to be a repository of an oral history project that would provide a future resource for historians and scholars seeking a better understanding of The Troubles, while also helping to promote peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. At no time have we wanted to obfuscate a criminal investigation into a horrific abduction and murder of a mother of 10,” Dunn said.
Ed Moloney, the former Belfast journalist who directed Boston College's project, and Anthony McIntyre, a project researcher and former IRA member, said that they welcomed news of the BC appeal.
"I think they're glad that Boston College has belatedly joined them," their attorney Eamonn Dornan told the Associated Press, although both Moloney and McIntyre have been outspoken in criticizing the university’s position on the Price's interviews.

The Council of the American Sociological Association (ASA) issued a statement in February supporting the BC appeal, saying that they are “profoundly disturbed” by Judge Young’s latest decision on the seven tapes. The Belfast Project guarantee to safeguard the identities of those interviewed, the ASA said represents “a core component of efforts by historians and social scientists to develop the research-based knowledge that is critical to an informed society and its well being.”
The American Civil Liberties Union’s Massachusetts affiliate (ACLUM) has also lent their support to the appeals by BC, along with Moloney and McIntyre. In an amicus brief filed with the court, the ACLUM warned that those exposed could be considered informants by paramilitary groups and targeted for assassination.
“The forced turnover of interview materials will convert the interviewees and their interviewers into informants. … in the name of solving a 40-year-old murder, the Government risks subjecting multiple participants in the Belfast Project to the ultimate retaliation,” reads the brief in part.
Moloney, who wrote a book Voices from the Grave based in part on tapes recorded of two deceased Belfast Project participants, David Irvine and Brendan Hughes, says that two key Boston College faculty members encouraged the book’s publication and hoped to share in any profits. In a statement sent to the Reporter, Moloney says that Prof. Tom Hachey of the Irish Studies Department and Dr. Bob O’Neil, who ran BC’s Burns Library, encouraged the book’s 2010 publication.