Dave et all, in cases where IRA members were prosecuted under British law they received sentences, served time. To date noone from the British government has ever been charged with any crime associated with the collusion with loyalist paramilitaries. Grab alludes to double standards above but double standards were used when soldiers were charged with murder in N. Ireland. Atleast three cases I know of soldiers served reduced sentences for murder and were released back to their regiments. If memory serves each one served three years in prison. Its all very well to say lets sweep the past under the carpet but that doesn't make the problems go away. The British goverment has a responsibility here to show some kind of leadership. Its been over 30 years since Bloody Sunday and still we will have to wait another year for the report to come out and I'll bet that there will be no charges laid against any of those murders either. As for the Irish government if it is proven that they were implicit in collusion then they should have to answer to those charges aswell. When I speak of murder here I'm speaking of the murder of innocents by their own Government.