The Irish government has declined a leading Belfast historian's suggestion to set up an independent inquiry to examine previous governments' alleged relationships with the IRA.

Lord Paul Bew, who acted as an historical adviser to the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday, suggested that a more limited Dublin inquiry could be conducted by a team of historians for a fraction of the $600 million cost of the Saville Inquiry.

The Queen’s University Belfast academic made the suggestion after Irish Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore said at the British Irish Association in Cambridge on Saturday that it was necessary to acknowledge unionists who feel that 'the Irish state could have done more to prevent the IRA’s murderous activities in border areas.'...