The exchange about the impact of the high-profile robbery was made during a meeting of British and Irish officials at Downing Street on January 5 in 2005. Irish civil servant Michael Collins said the Irish side “shared the deep anxiety about the bank robbery” and said they would welcome any information the British side had gathered. He also expected that the DUP would “go on the rampage” once then PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde attributed responsibility. “Powell feared that the robbery would have proceeded even if the deal had been done with the DUP,” the note states. Mr Powell also said that the British would not demilitarise in return for IRA arms decommissioning, but would demilitarise “in a house-keeping way” as it wanted to scale back its presence in Northern Ireland.

Source: The Herald December 27, 2025 12:05 UTC