Sinn Fein Spy Mystery Deepens
David Sharrock
The Times
________
London (UK):
Pressure was growing on Tony Blair last night to make a public statement on the confession by a senior Irish republican that he had spied on the IRA and Sinn Fein for the past 20 years.
Denis Donaldson, who is believed to be in hiding in the Irish Republic with his family, has lifted a corner of a lid that until now has been kept tightly in place on the shadowy underworld of Northern Ireland’s intelligence wars.
While the Provisional movement, led by Gerry Adams, has the most to lose from the affair, the Government will regret the unmasking of one of its best placed “assets” deep within the republican leadership.
So far the Stormontgate affair has thrown up more questions than answers. How did Donaldson manage to stay so high in the republican leadership for so long without being discovered? How and why was he unmasked now? And who has the most to gain from his exposure? Just over a week ago Donaldson was basking in the republican limelight after the case against him and two others collapsed, with Sinn Fein insisting this was proof that the IRA spy ring at Stormont never existed and the Government claiming the opposite.
Yesterday all of Northern Ireland’s political parties — with the notable exception of Sinn Fein — were calling for Mr Blair to give an explanation for the highly unusual events of the past ten days.
Dec 19, 2005
See: Donaldson Killed (Apr 05, 2006 Report)
David Sharrock
The Times
________
London (UK):
Pressure was growing on Tony Blair last night to make a public statement on the confession by a senior Irish republican that he had spied on the IRA and Sinn Fein for the past 20 years.
Denis Donaldson, who is believed to be in hiding in the Irish Republic with his family, has lifted a corner of a lid that until now has been kept tightly in place on the shadowy underworld of Northern Ireland’s intelligence wars.
While the Provisional movement, led by Gerry Adams, has the most to lose from the affair, the Government will regret the unmasking of one of its best placed “assets” deep within the republican leadership.
So far the Stormontgate affair has thrown up more questions than answers. How did Donaldson manage to stay so high in the republican leadership for so long without being discovered? How and why was he unmasked now? And who has the most to gain from his exposure? Just over a week ago Donaldson was basking in the republican limelight after the case against him and two others collapsed, with Sinn Fein insisting this was proof that the IRA spy ring at Stormont never existed and the Government claiming the opposite.
Yesterday all of Northern Ireland’s political parties — with the notable exception of Sinn Fein — were calling for Mr Blair to give an explanation for the highly unusual events of the past ten days.
Dec 19, 2005
See: Donaldson Killed (Apr 05, 2006 Report)
