Lord Eames and Denis Bradley, who are charged with finding consensus on how to address the legacy of the Troubles, have spent almost a week in London delving into how the British so-called "dirty war" was conducted.
Last week, the former Church of Ireland primate and Mr Bradley held four days of meetings with Lord Stevens, The Irish Timeshas learned. Over the past 18 years Lord Stevens carried out costly and detailed examinations into allegations of British army and RUC collusion with loyalist paramilitaries, establishing that there was such collusion including collusion in murders.
The meeting is significant because it indicates that as part of its initial inquiries, the Eames/Bradley team is prepared to investigate claims of endemic, often sanctioned collusion between the RUC and British army and loyalist paramilitaries.
Should Lord Eames and Mr Bradley establish that Lord Stevens would assist a future truth commission-style body, or some other mechanism for addressing the past, this in turn would put pressure on the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries to make clear that they would co-operate in dealing with the past.
It would exert similar pressure on organisations such as MI5, the British army's Force Research Unit and former members of the RUC special branch.
It is understood that Lord Eames and Mr Bradley, former vice-chairman of the Policing Board, found talks with Lord Stevens and his inquiry team productive.
Lord Stevens, who led three investigations into the collusion claims, including the allegations in relation to the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989, was co-operative with the two men, it is understood.
Lord Eames and Mr Bradley are meeting the North's Human Rights Commission and the PSNI's historical inquiries team in Armagh today, which has the responsibility of investigating 1,800 unsolved murders of the Troubles.
PSNI chief constable Sir Hugh Orde has frequently said that investigating the past is preventing him properly policing the present, which is why he is supportive of the Eames/Bradley project.
The Eames/Bradley group was established by former Northern secretary Peter Hain in June, and has been given a year to propose a system of addressing the past that will have the support, or at least the acquiescence, of victims of the Troubles and those bereaved by the Troubles.
Lord Stevens is in a position to provide the Eames/Bradley team with confidential information, that has never been made public, about alleged British security force collusion with loyalist paramilitaries.
