Irish republicans have once again discovered that the British have been spying on them. It turns out that Denis Donaldson, a member of Sinn Féin, the Irish republican party, was in fact an agent working for the British.
In 2003, republicans discovered that Freddie Scappaticci, codenamed "Stakeknife", a member of the IRA, was also a British agent spying on their activities.
Mystery of man who spied for British
· Party expels member who was agent for 20 years
· New pressure on Blair to make statement
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Saturday December 17, 2005
The Guardian
A top Sinn Féin member who headed the party's Stormont offices last night confessed that he had been spying for the British for 20 years. Denis Donaldson, a 55-year-old former head of administration at Stormont, said he was recruited in the 1980s as a paid agent and deeply regretted working for British intelligence.
His admission, which prompted his expulsion from the party, is the latest twist in a three-year saga dubbed "Stormontgate" in which allegations of an IRA spy ring in Northern Ireland's parliament led to the suspension of the assembly in 2002 and three years of direct rule.
Nationalist and unionist politicians last night demanded that Tony Blair make a statement shedding some light on what appeared to be an increasingly murky affair. The Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, described Mr Donaldson's confession as "as bizarre as it gets".
Mr Donaldson was working as a Sinn Féin administrator in Parliament Buildings when police raided his party's offices in October 2002. Officers investigating an alleged IRA spy ring seized computer disks in what would become one of the highest profile spying cases in Northern Ireland. The government swiftly suspended the assembly after unionists threatened to resign.
Mr Donaldson and his son-in-law, Ciaran Kearney, a community worker, were arrested and charged with having documents likely to be of use to terrorists. A civil servant, William Mackessy, was charged with collecting information on the security forces. Hundreds of prison officers whose names were believed to have fallen into IRA hands were warned about threats to their safety. But last week the case against the three men was suddenly dropped in an unscheduled Belfast court hearing.
The court was told simply that the director of proscutions felt going ahead was "no longer in the public interest". Mr Donaldson said last night in a statement to Irish state broadcaster RTE recorded in a Dublin hotel room: "I was a British agent at the time. I was recruited in the 1980s after compromising myself during a vulnerable time in my life. Since then I have worked for British intelligence and the RUC/PSNI Special Branch. Over that period I was paid money. I was not involved in any republican spy ring in Stormont. The so-called Stormontgate affair was a scam and a fiction. It never existed; it was created by Special Branch."
His confession will increase demands for Mr Blair to shed light on the case and explain why charges against Mr Donaldson were dropped with no explanation. Unionists believed the IRA had been gathering intelligence and demanded to know if the government had forced the case to be dropped to spare Sinn Féin's blushes.
Mr Donaldson, who was once photographed with hunger striker Bobby Sands, appeared last week alongside Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams outside Stormont, jubilant that his name had been cleared. The party then accused politically motivated "securocrats" of orchestrating a baseless case to bring down the power-sharing government at Stormont and Mr Donaldson said he was considering suing the police.
When Mr Adams announced yesterday that Mr Donaldson had confessed he was a British agent, even those who knew him were stunned. Mr Adams said Mr Donaldson had been warned by police this week that he was going to be outed as a spy and his life was in danger. This prompted him to confess his double life to senior party officials. He deeply regretted working for British intelligence and apologised to his "former comrades" and to his family.
Not since Freddie Scappaticci - "Stakeknife", a former member of the IRA's internal security unit - was alleged in 2003 to have been the highest ranking British agent working inside the Provos, have the republicans faced such an uproar over alleged informers.
The Northern Ireland Office refused to comment on the claim that Mr Donaldson was a spy, but said the 2002 Stormont raids were conducted for no other reason than to "prevent paramilitary intelligence gathering". But the the moderate nationalist SDLP said there was a "distinct possibility" Mr Donaldson was being used as a scapegoat to cover someone else. Alasdair McDonnell, an SDLP MP, said: "It is time for Sinn Féin to stop trying to cover up. Now that the truth is coming out, we hope they will also face up to the truth of the Stakeknife affair and admit who knew what and when."
The spying game
Denis Donaldson is the new face in the IRA's rogues' gallery of alleged touts working for the British security services. Normally informants are interrogated, hooded and shot, though some have survived in hiding. There have been scores over the years, including:
Eamon Collins
He was battered to death in his hometown of Newry in 1999. He had renounced violence, turned informer and written an explosive book, Killing Rage, that revealed the organisation's violence.
Freddie Scappaticci
Said to be a former senior member of the IRA's internal security unit, Scappaticci, codenamed Stakeknife, was alleged to be the highest ranking British agent working inside the Provos. He quit his west Belfast home following newspaper allegations in May 2003. He gave a press conference after the allegations were made to deny the claims but has since vanished from public view.
Robert Lean
Twenty years ago Lean, one of the IRA's top men, turned Special Branch informant. Police believed his evidence would be enough to bring down the Provisionals. He revealed dozens of names before he was moved into Palace Barracks near Belfast. But his conscience got the better of him and he escaped and confessed to his former associates. They immediately ordered him to leave the city. He has not been heard or seen since.
Gregory Burns, John Dignam, Aidan Starrs
The IRA murdered all three and dumped their bodies in 1992. It was claimed they were police and MI5 informers who had been tried and executed by the organisation.
guardian.co.uk
In 2003, republicans discovered that Freddie Scappaticci, codenamed "Stakeknife", a member of the IRA, was also a British agent spying on their activities.
Mystery of man who spied for British
· Party expels member who was agent for 20 years
· New pressure on Blair to make statement
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Saturday December 17, 2005
The Guardian
A top Sinn Féin member who headed the party's Stormont offices last night confessed that he had been spying for the British for 20 years. Denis Donaldson, a 55-year-old former head of administration at Stormont, said he was recruited in the 1980s as a paid agent and deeply regretted working for British intelligence.
His admission, which prompted his expulsion from the party, is the latest twist in a three-year saga dubbed "Stormontgate" in which allegations of an IRA spy ring in Northern Ireland's parliament led to the suspension of the assembly in 2002 and three years of direct rule.
Nationalist and unionist politicians last night demanded that Tony Blair make a statement shedding some light on what appeared to be an increasingly murky affair. The Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, described Mr Donaldson's confession as "as bizarre as it gets".
Mr Donaldson was working as a Sinn Féin administrator in Parliament Buildings when police raided his party's offices in October 2002. Officers investigating an alleged IRA spy ring seized computer disks in what would become one of the highest profile spying cases in Northern Ireland. The government swiftly suspended the assembly after unionists threatened to resign.
Mr Donaldson and his son-in-law, Ciaran Kearney, a community worker, were arrested and charged with having documents likely to be of use to terrorists. A civil servant, William Mackessy, was charged with collecting information on the security forces. Hundreds of prison officers whose names were believed to have fallen into IRA hands were warned about threats to their safety. But last week the case against the three men was suddenly dropped in an unscheduled Belfast court hearing.
The court was told simply that the director of proscutions felt going ahead was "no longer in the public interest". Mr Donaldson said last night in a statement to Irish state broadcaster RTE recorded in a Dublin hotel room: "I was a British agent at the time. I was recruited in the 1980s after compromising myself during a vulnerable time in my life. Since then I have worked for British intelligence and the RUC/PSNI Special Branch. Over that period I was paid money. I was not involved in any republican spy ring in Stormont. The so-called Stormontgate affair was a scam and a fiction. It never existed; it was created by Special Branch."
His confession will increase demands for Mr Blair to shed light on the case and explain why charges against Mr Donaldson were dropped with no explanation. Unionists believed the IRA had been gathering intelligence and demanded to know if the government had forced the case to be dropped to spare Sinn Féin's blushes.
Mr Donaldson, who was once photographed with hunger striker Bobby Sands, appeared last week alongside Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams outside Stormont, jubilant that his name had been cleared. The party then accused politically motivated "securocrats" of orchestrating a baseless case to bring down the power-sharing government at Stormont and Mr Donaldson said he was considering suing the police.
When Mr Adams announced yesterday that Mr Donaldson had confessed he was a British agent, even those who knew him were stunned. Mr Adams said Mr Donaldson had been warned by police this week that he was going to be outed as a spy and his life was in danger. This prompted him to confess his double life to senior party officials. He deeply regretted working for British intelligence and apologised to his "former comrades" and to his family.
Not since Freddie Scappaticci - "Stakeknife", a former member of the IRA's internal security unit - was alleged in 2003 to have been the highest ranking British agent working inside the Provos, have the republicans faced such an uproar over alleged informers.
The Northern Ireland Office refused to comment on the claim that Mr Donaldson was a spy, but said the 2002 Stormont raids were conducted for no other reason than to "prevent paramilitary intelligence gathering". But the the moderate nationalist SDLP said there was a "distinct possibility" Mr Donaldson was being used as a scapegoat to cover someone else. Alasdair McDonnell, an SDLP MP, said: "It is time for Sinn Féin to stop trying to cover up. Now that the truth is coming out, we hope they will also face up to the truth of the Stakeknife affair and admit who knew what and when."
The spying game
Denis Donaldson is the new face in the IRA's rogues' gallery of alleged touts working for the British security services. Normally informants are interrogated, hooded and shot, though some have survived in hiding. There have been scores over the years, including:
Eamon Collins
He was battered to death in his hometown of Newry in 1999. He had renounced violence, turned informer and written an explosive book, Killing Rage, that revealed the organisation's violence.
Freddie Scappaticci
Said to be a former senior member of the IRA's internal security unit, Scappaticci, codenamed Stakeknife, was alleged to be the highest ranking British agent working inside the Provos. He quit his west Belfast home following newspaper allegations in May 2003. He gave a press conference after the allegations were made to deny the claims but has since vanished from public view.
Robert Lean
Twenty years ago Lean, one of the IRA's top men, turned Special Branch informant. Police believed his evidence would be enough to bring down the Provisionals. He revealed dozens of names before he was moved into Palace Barracks near Belfast. But his conscience got the better of him and he escaped and confessed to his former associates. They immediately ordered him to leave the city. He has not been heard or seen since.
Gregory Burns, John Dignam, Aidan Starrs
The IRA murdered all three and dumped their bodies in 1992. It was claimed they were police and MI5 informers who had been tried and executed by the organisation.
guardian.co.uk