Des O'Malley,Urged to accept some responsibility
Captain James Kelly, who was a central figure in the Arms Trial in 1970, has said that Des O'Malley must accept some responsibility for changes that were made to a key witness statement. In an RTÉ television programme last night, Mr O'Malley, who was Minister for Justice at the time, denied altering or directing anyone else to alter the statement by Colonel Michael Hefferon.
The original statement by Colonel Hefferon, who was head of Army Intelligence, was changed after it had been seen by Mr O'Malley and his Department Secretary, Peter Berry. Suggestions were removed that the Minister for Defence at that time, Jim Gibbons, was aware of an attempt to import arms. Speaking on Morning Ireland, Captain Kelly described Mr O'Malley's claims that the parts of the statement that were excluded were inadmissable as "rubbish".
