British Used Spy to Destroy Northern Ireland Power-Sharing Govt. in 2002
James Mullin
May 05, 2006
Denis Donaldson, a life-long Irish Republican, confessed to being a British spy in December of 2005. He told Ireland’s state broadcaster, RTE, that he had been receiving paychecks from the British intelligence agencies MI5 and Special Branch even while he was serving as Sinn Fein's chief administrator for the power-sharing provincial parliament.
Republicans were left wondering how much damage had been done by a “mole” operating at the highest levels of the party. Less than five months later, on April 4th, Denis Donaldson was found dead at his isolated home near Glenties in Donegal – the victim of a shotgun blast to the head.
The I.R.A., which has been on cease fire ever since it signed the "Good Friday Agreement" in 1998, issued a statement denying responsibility for the killing. Few, if any, editorial writers or ministers gave the denial any credibility. After all, who else had the motive, the means, the opportunity, and a history of violence?
Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein, said: "It has to be condemned. We are living in a different era, and in the future in which everyone could share. This killing seems to have been carried out by those who have not accepted that.”
Donaldson’s murder came just two days before the Irish and British prime ministers, Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair were scheduled to meet in Northern Ireland to discuss restoring the power-sharing (devolved)government.
Just how untimely can a murder be?
Ian Paisley, the leader of Sinn Fein's Protestant rivals, the Democratic Unionists, lost his characteristic objectivity (just kidding!) by saying, “Eyes will be turned towards I.R.A./Sinn Fein on this issue."
Mr. Paisley also said that the killing "has put a dark cloud over the talks Thursday between Mr. Ahern and Mr. Blair.”
All the pieces are in place for another failed effort to restart the devolved government in the six counties, but let’s return to Mr. Donaldson’s story for a moment.
Last December, when he confessed to being a spy, the British government suddenly dropped four-year-old charges against Donaldson. And what had he been charged with? Why, spying, of course!
Here’s the story: Back on October 4th, 2002, some 20 members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary stealthily entered the Stormont parliament building, and raided the offices belonging to the nationalist party, Sinn Fein.
The Observer of Oct. 6th said the police seized “computer files and CD-ROMS that were believed to contain highly sensitive material stolen from the heart of the British administration in Northern Ireland.” Wow!
It also said that “the Stormont raid was carried out in the front of the world's media”, but “the bulk of the investigation centered on the searches and arrests taking place a few miles away in republican heartlands. Several hours earlier on Friday morning, four homes were raided in the north and west of the city.”
Now get this part: “Among four others arrested on Friday was Denis Donaldson, a former IRA prisoner who now heads Sinn Fein's administration in Stormont. The bulk of the documents were allegedly found at his home.” (!)
Britain then charged Mr. Donaldson with spying for the I.R.A. by stealing documents from government offices at the Northern Irish parliament. All this happened while Donaldson was in the pay of Britain’s spymasters and taking his orders from London!
Imagine British Intelligence agents bringing all the necessary evidence right through Donaldson’s front door. How fiendishly clever these blokes are!
Here’s what was supposedly found on the premises: “correspondence between Tony Blair and Dr John Reid, the Northern Ireland Secretary, transcripts of conversations between the Prime Minister and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, and minutes of private meetings between Reid, his security Minister Jane Kennedy and the Northern Ireland political parties.”
This trove of incriminating recordings and transcripts was no doubt the property of Britain’s MI5 and Special Branch agencies. After all, they surreptitiously collected, studied, copied, codified, arranged, selected, and deposited the items at Mr. Donaldson’s home, and then “discovered” them on October 4th, 2002. Brilliant detective work, don't you agree?
The Observer also noted that, “Gerry Kelly, a Sinn Fein Assembly member who witnessed the raid, accused the police of colluding with the Ulster Unionists to bring down the Northern Ireland Executive.” Very perceptive, Gerry!
At the same time, David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and then Northern Ireland's First Minister, went absolutely gaga over the “evidence” of Sinn Fein subterfuge.
He claimed that the Sinn Fein spying caper was even bigger than the Watergate scandal:
At Watergate Nixon's cronies only broke into one filing cupboard; (cabinet) whereas, at Stormont hundreds of files, many of them marked confidential, were stolen. The volume here is greater than Watergate and the aim was the same: political intelligence and dirty tricks.” Oh, yes, there were dirty tricks, David.
Trimble told the British government that if they did not expel Sinn Fein from the devolved government forthwith, he and his three Ministers would pull out, effectively killing the Good Friday Agreement. That is pretty much what happened.
By arranging and then discovering their own spy “scandal”, the British brought their own purported attempt at power-sharing crashing down into a heap of rubble.
I am sure they were very sorry indeed that direct rule from London had to be re-imposed. (“Dammitall! We gave it our best effort, but the bloody I.R.A. couldn’t behave themselves!”)
It may sound like just a footnote, but the April 6th BBC News said that "when Denis Donaldson admitted he had worked as a British agent, he denied that he had been part of an IRA spy ring at Stormont, and pointed the finger of blame at the intelligence services, claiming his arrest was part of a `conspiracy to bring down the assembly'".
Statements like that could not have endeared Mr. Donaldson to his former spymasters; in fact, those words may have convinced them that he had literally outlived his usefulness.
But even in death, Mr. Donaldson could still be of use. His violent “gangland – style” killing would almost certainly be blamed on the IRA, and that would undermine the forthcoming attempt at power-sharing.
This is a preposterous claim, I know. The British exemplify civilized behavior, and they would never countenance murder.
Gerry Adams has suggested the murder might have been the work of British intelligence agencies who want to deflect blame back toward the republicans. Well, even an Irish nationalist who's blinded by ideology finds a kernel of truth now and then.
The BBC, on the other hand, could only come up with four suspects: The IRA leadership, individualal members of the IRA, dissident republicans, and grassroots republicans. Anybody else have a motive? Nope!
Mr. Blair and Mr. Ahern still plan to restart the “fledgling” legislature in May, but the freshly - executed body of a former I.R.A. man and British spy is lying in their path.
Gentlemen, to whom does it belong?
Republicans were left wondering how much damage had been done by a “mole” operating at the highest levels of the party. Less than five months later, on April 4th, Denis Donaldson was found dead at his isolated home near Glenties in Donegal – the victim of a shotgun blast to the head.
The I.R.A., which has been on cease fire ever since it signed the "Good Friday Agreement" in 1998, issued a statement denying responsibility for the killing. Few, if any, editorial writers or ministers gave the denial any credibility. After all, who else had the motive, the means, the opportunity, and a history of violence?
Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein, said: "It has to be condemned. We are living in a different era, and in the future in which everyone could share. This killing seems to have been carried out by those who have not accepted that.”
Donaldson’s murder came just two days before the Irish and British prime ministers, Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair were scheduled to meet in Northern Ireland to discuss restoring the power-sharing (devolved)government.
Just how untimely can a murder be?
Ian Paisley, the leader of Sinn Fein's Protestant rivals, the Democratic Unionists, lost his characteristic objectivity (just kidding!) by saying, “Eyes will be turned towards I.R.A./Sinn Fein on this issue."
Mr. Paisley also said that the killing "has put a dark cloud over the talks Thursday between Mr. Ahern and Mr. Blair.”
All the pieces are in place for another failed effort to restart the devolved government in the six counties, but let’s return to Mr. Donaldson’s story for a moment.
Last December, when he confessed to being a spy, the British government suddenly dropped four-year-old charges against Donaldson. And what had he been charged with? Why, spying, of course!
Here’s the story: Back on October 4th, 2002, some 20 members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary stealthily entered the Stormont parliament building, and raided the offices belonging to the nationalist party, Sinn Fein.
The Observer of Oct. 6th said the police seized “computer files and CD-ROMS that were believed to contain highly sensitive material stolen from the heart of the British administration in Northern Ireland.” Wow!
It also said that “the Stormont raid was carried out in the front of the world's media”, but “the bulk of the investigation centered on the searches and arrests taking place a few miles away in republican heartlands. Several hours earlier on Friday morning, four homes were raided in the north and west of the city.”
Now get this part: “Among four others arrested on Friday was Denis Donaldson, a former IRA prisoner who now heads Sinn Fein's administration in Stormont. The bulk of the documents were allegedly found at his home.” (!)
Britain then charged Mr. Donaldson with spying for the I.R.A. by stealing documents from government offices at the Northern Irish parliament. All this happened while Donaldson was in the pay of Britain’s spymasters and taking his orders from London!
Imagine British Intelligence agents bringing all the necessary evidence right through Donaldson’s front door. How fiendishly clever these blokes are!
Here’s what was supposedly found on the premises: “correspondence between Tony Blair and Dr John Reid, the Northern Ireland Secretary, transcripts of conversations between the Prime Minister and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, and minutes of private meetings between Reid, his security Minister Jane Kennedy and the Northern Ireland political parties.”
This trove of incriminating recordings and transcripts was no doubt the property of Britain’s MI5 and Special Branch agencies. After all, they surreptitiously collected, studied, copied, codified, arranged, selected, and deposited the items at Mr. Donaldson’s home, and then “discovered” them on October 4th, 2002. Brilliant detective work, don't you agree?
The Observer also noted that, “Gerry Kelly, a Sinn Fein Assembly member who witnessed the raid, accused the police of colluding with the Ulster Unionists to bring down the Northern Ireland Executive.” Very perceptive, Gerry!
At the same time, David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and then Northern Ireland's First Minister, went absolutely gaga over the “evidence” of Sinn Fein subterfuge.
He claimed that the Sinn Fein spying caper was even bigger than the Watergate scandal:
At Watergate Nixon's cronies only broke into one filing cupboard; (cabinet) whereas, at Stormont hundreds of files, many of them marked confidential, were stolen. The volume here is greater than Watergate and the aim was the same: political intelligence and dirty tricks.” Oh, yes, there were dirty tricks, David.
Trimble told the British government that if they did not expel Sinn Fein from the devolved government forthwith, he and his three Ministers would pull out, effectively killing the Good Friday Agreement. That is pretty much what happened.
By arranging and then discovering their own spy “scandal”, the British brought their own purported attempt at power-sharing crashing down into a heap of rubble.
I am sure they were very sorry indeed that direct rule from London had to be re-imposed. (“Dammitall! We gave it our best effort, but the bloody I.R.A. couldn’t behave themselves!”)
It may sound like just a footnote, but the April 6th BBC News said that "when Denis Donaldson admitted he had worked as a British agent, he denied that he had been part of an IRA spy ring at Stormont, and pointed the finger of blame at the intelligence services, claiming his arrest was part of a `conspiracy to bring down the assembly'".
Statements like that could not have endeared Mr. Donaldson to his former spymasters; in fact, those words may have convinced them that he had literally outlived his usefulness.
But even in death, Mr. Donaldson could still be of use. His violent “gangland – style” killing would almost certainly be blamed on the IRA, and that would undermine the forthcoming attempt at power-sharing.
This is a preposterous claim, I know. The British exemplify civilized behavior, and they would never countenance murder.
Gerry Adams has suggested the murder might have been the work of British intelligence agencies who want to deflect blame back toward the republicans. Well, even an Irish nationalist who's blinded by ideology finds a kernel of truth now and then.
The BBC, on the other hand, could only come up with four suspects: The IRA leadership, individualal members of the IRA, dissident republicans, and grassroots republicans. Anybody else have a motive? Nope!
Mr. Blair and Mr. Ahern still plan to restart the “fledgling” legislature in May, but the freshly - executed body of a former I.R.A. man and British spy is lying in their path.
Gentlemen, to whom does it belong?