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A veteran Sinn Fein figure has said he was a British agent for two decades.
BBC ^ | 16 December 2005

Posted on 12/16/2005 2:00:59 PM PST by northmoor

A veteran Sinn Fein figure expelled from the party today has said he was a British agent for two decades.

Denis Donaldson headed the party's administration office at Stormont before his October 2002 arrest over an alleged spy ring led to its collapse.

Mr Donaldson said he was recruited in the 1980s as a paid agent and deeply regretted his activities.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams claimed he was about to be "outed" by the same "securocrats" who set him up as a spy.

Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive collapsed in October 2002 following the arrests of three men, who had all charges against them dropped "in the public interest" last week.

The government said on Friday that the Stormont raid more than three years ago was solely to prevent paramilitary intelligence gathering.

The Northern Ireland Office said it "completely rejected any allegation that the police operation in October 2002 was for any reason other than to prevent paramilitary intelligence gathering".

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS -

4 October 2002: Three men arrested following raid on Sinn Fein's Stormont office. Power-sharing executive collapses and government restores direct rule to NI a week later

8 December 2005: Charges against three men dropped "in the public interest"

16 December 2005: Sinn Fein says one of the men was a "British agent" and expels him from the party: he later says he worked as a spy since the 1980s Government and police reject the party's claim raid was politically motivated

It said "the fact remains that a huge number of stolen documents were recovered by the police".

In a statement on Friday, Mr Donaldson said: "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."

Mr Donaldson said the "so-called Stormontgate affair" was "a scam and a fiction invented by (police) Special Branch".

At a news conference on Friday, Mr Adams claimed Mr Donaldson had been approached by police officers earlier this week and told he was about to be "outed" as an informer.

He said Mr Donaldson was not under any threat from the republican movement.

If... one of Sinn Fein's top administrators in Stormont turns out to be a British spy, this is as bizarre as it gets Bertie Ahern Irish prime minister

Police sources earlier reiterated that the "Stormontgate" affair began because a paramilitary organisation was involved in the systematic gathering of information and targeting or individuals.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said if "one of Sinn Fein's top administrators in Stormont turns out to be a British spy, this is as bizarre as it gets".

etc


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: globalwaronterror; gwot; ira; ireland; irishtraitors; provos; sinnfein; sinnfeinira; stormontgate; terrorists; waronterror; wot
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Some pretty odd stories are going to come out of Northern Ireland about the "Troubles"
1 posted on 12/16/2005 2:01:01 PM PST by northmoor
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To: northmoor

dead man walking!


2 posted on 12/16/2005 2:18:33 PM PST by DHak (usma '91)
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To: DHak

The lad'll be needin' his loocky chahms...


3 posted on 12/16/2005 2:19:54 PM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum.)
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To: DHak

dead man walking!

**
Precisely what I was going to say.
Your speculation as to the means?


4 posted on 12/16/2005 2:50:34 PM PST by Bigg Red (Do not trust Democrats with national security!)
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To: Bigg Red

nothing pleasant i'm sure


5 posted on 12/16/2005 3:00:25 PM PST by DHak (usma '91)
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To: northmoor

I'm not Irish and have no connection to any of this. However, I've known some Irish guys in the past and their hatred of the Brits bordered on pathological. Now perhaps the Brits did rule with an iron fist, but this stuff of fighting your neighbor all your life must get pretty old. The men I knew who were hard core...not a single one of them enjoyed life. They were full of bitterness and hatred. Surely there is a better way to go through life other than being suspicious and hating?

Am I missing something?


6 posted on 12/17/2005 7:31:51 AM PST by OldCorps
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To: Berosus; blam; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Do not dub me shapka broham; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...

two, two, two pings in one.

Unionists demand probe into spy claims:
Sinn Fein official British spy for the past two decades
Ireland Online | December 17, 2005
Posted on 12/17/2005 9:02:43 AM PST by billorites
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1542380/posts


7 posted on 12/17/2005 8:54:28 PM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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Sinn Fein official unmasked as spy flees to Continent
MURDO MACLEOD
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=2426042005


8 posted on 12/17/2005 8:58:40 PM PST by SunkenCiv ("In silence, and at night, the Conscience feels that life should soar to nobler ends than Power.")
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To: Irish_Thatcherite

ping


9 posted on 12/17/2005 8:59:16 PM PST by Do not dub me shapka broham
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To: northmoor; Happygal; Irish_Thatcherite; Colosis; MadIvan

This is truly one of the most bizare situations I've ever heard about.


10 posted on 12/17/2005 9:00:43 PM PST by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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To: Incorrigible; northmoor; Do not dub me shapka broham; Happygal; Colosis; Black Line; Cucullain; ...

I appears to be a cock-up on the part of of the British security services - they couldn't charge the suspects without charging the spy, thus blowing his cover, of course his cover is blown now!!

Makes me sick to see a terrorist group gloating.


11 posted on 12/18/2005 9:29:12 AM PST by Irish_Thatcherite (~~~A vote for Bertie Ahern is a vote for Gerry Adams!~~~)
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To: Irish_Thatcherite

Related story:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1542380/posts


12 posted on 12/18/2005 9:32:05 AM PST by Irish_Thatcherite (~~~A vote for Bertie Ahern is a vote for Gerry Adams!~~~)
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To: OldCorps
Am I missing something?

Not at all. In fact, your post sheds some light on Ireland in general. Eamon de Valera, essentially the Prime Minister of Ireland for Life, was such a man as you describe. Hard core hatred and bitterness for the British and pathologically selfish in his political ambition (de Valera had Michael Collin's murdered)..

On the day after Pearl Harbor, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill telegraphed de Valera, who was Prime Minister of Ireland at the time, and made the offer that if Ireland threw her lot in with the American and British Allies, that, after the war, Churchill would devote his life to the unification of Ireland. de Valera turned Churchill down and welcomed Nazi submarines in Dublin harbor for fueling and provisions as a "neutral country". de Valere hated the British so much, that Ireland could hardly be considered "neutral".

Had de Valera accepted Churchill's offer, US Army Air bases would have been built on the Island. The economy of Ireland would have prospered with the presence of the American military due to its payroll and its technology, long after the war ended. Instead, Ireland remained agricultural and poor.

'Tis a sad tale. I have cousins in Ireland, and the first time I talked of what de Valera did to them, they nearly threw me in Cork Harbor. Over the years, they have began to accept my opinion of de Valera. He hurt Ireland with hatred almost as much as the British did with it's occupation.

13 posted on 12/18/2005 10:05:40 AM PST by elbucko
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To: elbucko
All you say is correct!! And, had Collins lived he would have been Taoiseach, not De Valera - Ireland would not have remained neutral.

I have cousins in Ireland, and the first time I talked of what de Valera did to them, they nearly threw me in Cork Harbor.

That's Fianna Fail for you.... LOL!!

14 posted on 12/18/2005 10:16:30 AM PST by Irish_Thatcherite (~~~A vote for Bertie Ahern is a vote for Gerry Adams!~~~)
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To: Irish_Thatcherite
The section about the Supergrasses in Eamon Collins's was interesting.

How they kept informants from the IRA and INLA in the same wing as ones from Protestant paramilitary groups, like the UDA.

It sounded like an odd law enforcement strategy, to be honest.

Plus, according to him a lot of their testimony had been thrown out in the ensuing years.

15 posted on 12/18/2005 10:18:32 AM PST by Do not dub me shapka broham
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To: Do not dub me shapka broham
How they kept informants from the IRA and INLA in the same wing as ones from Protestant paramilitary groups, like the UDA.

Strange approach alright, it's a bit like Batman dressing Robin in a bright colored uniform (not exactly camouflage...) - I mean talk about making it obvious that they are informants!!

Plus, according to him a lot of their testimony had been thrown out in the ensuing years.

A lot of facts are being ignored in the name of peace, appeasement could could have been a factor in the collapse of 'Stormontgate'.

16 posted on 12/18/2005 10:27:18 AM PST by Irish_Thatcherite (~~~A vote for Bertie Ahern is a vote for Gerry Adams!~~~)
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To: northmoor

Shades of "Donnie Brasco"
FBI Agent "Donnie Brasco" Recalls Life in the Mafia
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0610_050610_tv_mafia.html


17 posted on 12/18/2005 12:17:50 PM PST by Valin (Purple Fingers Rule!)
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To: elbucko; Irish_Thatcherite

Never forget: when Hitler killed himself DeValera signed a sympathy book at the German Embassy.

This was mere weeks after the world saw those horrific newsreels of the liberation of the death camps with piles of bodies.


18 posted on 12/18/2005 12:22:54 PM PST by aculeus
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To: aculeus
Never forget: when Hitler killed himself DeValera signed a sympathy book at the German Embassy.

DeValera was a Gaelic (actually Spanish/Irish) dictator himself. The Irish people should try DeValera, in absentia and post mortem, for crimes against Ireland and humanity.

19 posted on 12/18/2005 12:39:25 PM PST by elbucko
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To: elbucko

LOL!! You sound like my inlaws in Dublin.

DeValera: "Burn everything British but it's coal!"


20 posted on 12/18/2005 2:28:57 PM PST by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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