Mystery of Sinn Féin man who spied for British

[muriel_volestrangler]

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.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1669536,00.html

Yes, this is bizarre, and quite important, since his arrest caused the suspension of the assembly, and it was after that that the DUP overtook the UUP as the largest unionist party - possibly because some unionists thought the UUP had been too trusting of Sinn Fein. But the dropping of charges, and now the revelation that he was working for the British government, put that in a completly different light.

[Maeve]

1. So the government was shut down, Sinn Fein accused or high crimes...

And all the time one of the three "accused" was actuallly a British spy. Hmmm...

I don't see it as "murky" at all. Y'all know I've never been one for conspiracy theories, but REALLY, NOW! Bertie, the Brits lied to you, the securocrats managed the whole storyline and the normalization of politics in Northern Ireland was set back years, if not decades. What a FUBAR mess!

[Henny Penny]

2. I have to say Muriel that I am not surprised that

British intelligence were behind this. Though I am extremely angry. A democratically elected government that was functioning surprisingly well was deliberately collapsed by the British government. Why???

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[two gun sid]

3. It's a strange and sordid mess...

I think we will be seeing fallout from this for years to come. The British Security Services have been mucking up politics in the Six since its creation. MI5 and MI6 have always been Unionist in their outlook and have never supported the GFA. They will use whatever methods they need to keep NI British.

Blair needs to put a leash on the people who are driving these destructive policies in NI and start moving toward implementing the Agreement NOW. The Irish and British peoples deserve to see a resolution to The Troubles.

[Henny Penny]

4. The strange thing is...

they have destroyed the Ulster Unionists.

By forcing the elections in November, they disadvantaged the two more "moderate" parties, the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP who both have a higher proportion of older voters that were less likely to vote in bad weather.

The actual collapse completely demoralised the Ulster Unionists, many of whom must have thought "Whats the point if SF are going to betray us like this...? We might as well vote DUP!!"

The result is both SF and DUP votes go up and the UK govt can blame any lack of progress on the irreconcilable differences between those two parties.

Are these people out to destroy the peace process?? or are they perhaps out to destroy Blair and not too worried about what else gets broken at the same time???

[two gun sid]

5. Trimble and the Unionist electorate were played for fools...

by British Intelligence and the PSNI. Now I see Hugh Orde is spouting off about the IRA Spyring at Stormont and how the PSNI recovered stolen Stormont papers from a home in W. Belfast and that proves that Sinn Fein had a PIRA spy operation going on at Stormont. What he fails to mention is those papers were found at the home of Special Branch Agent Denis Donaldson.

Yes, the UUP was destroyed by the collapse of government and the so called IRA Bank Heist. But, Trimble never fully committed to the GFA and tried to play it both ways. I feel he should have endorsed the Peace Process completely. He would have lost some votes but I think the UUP would have survived. People want political leaders who will LEAD. Paisley is a pompous prick but, everyone knows where he stands. He is a leader. A bigot and an asshole but, a leader.

I do believe that forces within British Intelligence and Unionism would like to destroy the GFA and the Blair government. For those fools, time stopped in the 19th century and Britain is still an Empire the sun never sets on.

[Henny Penny]

6. "Trimble and the Unionist electorate were played for fools..."

yes they were, and it will be very interesting to see their reaction to the realisation of that.

There are many other questions arising out of this affair...

It is no surprise that the IRA might have been heavily infiltrated by British intelligence, but many people are wondering what kind of role those agents played in killing not only IRA operatives, but many ordinary citizens in NI.

[two gun sid]

8. Did Agents help to kill Volunteers and ordinary citizens?...

That is a helluva question. I know that PIRA was infiltrated by BI and fair play to them, it was war.

What is of great concern to me is the fact that they would infiltrate a political party and engineer a crisis that would bring down an elected government. When bombs are going off in London, OK, all bets are off. But, it's been a long time since PIRA declared a cease fire and everyone knew they were not going back to war. Why infiltrate SF and destroy any kind of political end to The Troubles?

Did Blair know or is he hostage to elements inside MI5/MI6? How do the Orange Irish interpret what BI has done?

Shit, I'm just going around in circles. I guess we'll just have to wait this out and see what happens. Thanks for this good conversation my Irish and British friends.

[Maeve]

7. Yes, they are out to destroy the peace process

They want the status quo to remain, because that is where their power lies. (I am speaking of the securocrats, here, not the British govt per se) As long as Northern Ireland remains a mess, they have jobs.