Catholic priest's involvement in bombing covered up by British deep state

[Jan Klimkowski]

For the record, Suzanne Breen, the journalist to whom the piece in post #10 is credited, is well-connected and does have a history of involvement with anonymous republican sources.

Breen famously wrote the piece below, in which the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the murder of Denis Donaldson, and refused to divulge her sources under severe pressure and threat of jail time.

Donaldson was a long-time IRA member and later Sinn Fein politician who was identified as an MI5 and Special Branch asset in December 2005.

How Real IRA Killed Denis Donaldson

Real IRA Representative - 'We always intended to claim the operation [killing of Denis Donaldson] but we wanted to wait until we had first executed crown force personnel. That was secured at Massereene'

The Real IRA say they want to kill five named men who informed on the provos' activities. They also claim here how they killed Denis Donaldson, whose assassination in Co Donegal they describe as a 'matter of principle', writes Northern Editor Suzanne Breen.

Denis Donaldson didn't scream when the two masked men sledgehammered down the door and forced their way into his cottage with a loaded shotgun. "The look on his face wasn't even one of shock. He seemed to know what was coming," says the Real IRA Army Council representative.

Had he cried out for help, no-one would have heard. His nearest neighbour in the remote lane outside Glenties, Co Donegal, was two kilometres away. His wife Alice, who still lived in west Belfast, and his grown-up children, visited regularly. But his killers had Donaldson under surveillance. When they struck, they knew he was alone.

Donaldson was totally vulnerable. He didn't have a personal protection weapon. "He had no plan to defend himself. He hadn't a baseball or hurley bat, a knife or anything like that at hand," says the Real IRA spokesman.

"He just ran into the back room. There was a struggle, and he ended up on the ground. He didn't cry out or plead for mercy. He remained silent all the time." Donaldson was killed by the Real IRA gunman as he lay on the floor, according to the Army Council representative.

Donaldson's right hand was virtually severed in the shooting. There was some media speculation that this was symbolical because of the money he'd taken from the British for his services. "That wasn't so," says the Army Council spokesman. "His hand was blown away because he'd raised it to protect his head." The attack was over in minutes.

Donaldson wasn't tortured, as previous informers have been. Neither was there any attempt to question him. The Real IRA didn't consider abducting and interrogating him: "There was no need to debrief him because he'd done no damage to our organisation."

Embarrassment to the Provos

Initially, the killing looked amateurish because of the use of the shotgun. But it was more professional than it appeared. Used at close quarters, a shotgun is lethal and is virtually forensically untraceable.

It's just over three years since his killers left Donaldson lying on the floor of his pre-Famine cottage, hidden in the Doochary hills. The Army Council representative claims he was shot on the night of 3 April, and not the following morning as some media reports stated. He says a neighbour, who claimed to have seen Donaldson the next morning, was "mistaken".

But it wasn't until the evening of 4 April that a passer-by, noticing the damage to the front of the cottage, contacted gardaí and his body was discovered. Four months earlier, Donaldson (56), Sinn Féin's chief administrator at Stormont, had admitted being a long-serving British spy.

Provisional IRA members, acting either independently or with leadership authorisation, were the most likely suspects for his murder. Days after the killing, sources close to the Real IRA told this reporter they didn't believe dissidents were responsible. Donaldson alive was an embarrassment to the Provos. They couldn't see a reason for dissidents to kill him. So why did the Real IRA do so?

The Real IRA representative says its seven-strong Army Council debated at length whether to kill Donaldson: "Some individuals thought it was better propaganda value keeping him alive because it increased grassroots Provisionals' dissatisfaction with their leadership.

"They were angry at Donaldson's treachery and angry at their leadership for not executing him, for letting him slip off to Donegal unharmed. The Provisional Army Council did a dirty deal with Donaldson like they did with Freddie Scappaticci.

"But the other argument put forward among our leadership was, that by executing Donaldson, we could show – unlike the Provos – that we weren't prepared to tolerate traitors. We would prove that while the Provos shirked their duty under the green book [IRA rulebook], true and faithful republicans would not."

'They haven't a clue'

The Army Council representative is dismissive of the garda investigation into Donaldson's murder: "We don't believe it's going anywhere. They haven't a clue." Gardaí insist the investigation remains alive.

But why has the Real IRA waited three years to claim responsibility? Until now, there wasn't even a whisper that the organisation was involved. "Only a dozen people knew we executed Donaldson – our Army Council and the volunteers involved. Our wider membership will be as surprised by our statement as everybody else," says the spokesman.

"We always intended to claim the operation but we wanted to wait until we had first executed crown force personnel. That was secured at Massereene. The time is particularly right now, when we're being accused of treachery by others, to show what we do to traitors."

The Army Council representative says Donaldson's killing wasn't due to a personal grudge against him: "None of the information he gave his handlers affected our organisation. While some in our leadership knew him from their days in the Provisionals, he hadn't personally harmed them. But he was a self-confessed informer, and it became a matter of principle to execute him."

An eye for women

Donaldson had joined the IRA in the mid-1960s. He grew up in the Short Strand, a small nationalist enclave in east Belfast. In 1971, he was sentenced to 10 years in Long Kesh for explosive offences. There, he became friends with Bobby Sands. There are photographs of Donaldson, Sands, and other IRA men, arms locked around each other in camaraderie.

After his release, he became involved with Sinn Féin but he remained active in the IRA. As a senior intelligence officer, he travelled the world to meet organisations like the PLO and ETA, providing valuable information for his handlers. In the 1990s, he was sent to run the Noraid office in New York, clashing with its publicity director, Martin Galvin, who came to doubt his motives.

Donaldson was a highly sociable, popular character with an eye for women. He was very close to Gerry Adams. He wasn't intellectual but smart in a streetwise way.

His pleasant, modest manner meant he sat in on numerous confidential conversations. No-one suspected him. "Ach, it's only Denis!" they'd say.

There were rumours he'd been blackmailed by the security services into working for them after he was caught stealing from Marks & Spencer as a young man. However, that didn't explain why he remained in their employment for so long. After his admission in December 2005 that he'd been a spy for well over two decades, Donaldson was questioned at length by Sinn Féin figures.

He later received assurances from the Provisional Army Council that his life wasn't in danger. So he moved to the Donegal cottage he'd previously used as a holiday home. The Real IRA's admission that it killed him means other informers, living in Britain or abroad, are now under threat.

Prime target

The Real IRA spokesman claims its prime target is long-serving British agent, Freddie Scappaticci, who formerly ran Provisional IRA internal security, and whose information led to the death and imprisonment of scores of republicans.

"Other targets would be P**** ****** [an informer whose alias is Kevin Fulton], Martin McGartland, Christopher Black, Raymond Gilmour and Dave Rupert," he says. Rupert, an FBI-MI5 agent, was paid millions for successfully infiltrating the Real IRA. His testimony led to the conviction of former Real IRA leader, Mickey McKevitt.

Missing from the Army Council representative's stated list of 'targets' is Paddy Murray, a Provisional IRA member who later joined the Real IRA. He was jailed for abduction and assault last year but was later spirited out of Maghaberry prison.

Although Murray and his family have protested his innocence, he is now widely believed to have been an informer. He is reportedly living under a witness protection scheme in Britain. The Real IRA refuses to comment on his status, however it is likely to be pursuing him despite its silence.

The paramilitary group's threats against informers will further increase the pressure on many men who, years after leaving the North, are still living on their nerves.

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/art...donaldson/

[Jan Klimkowski]

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church doesn't agree with the police ombudsman's conclusions:

Bishop slams Claudy coverage

Bishop Edward Daly says he is "not convinced" that Father James Chesney was involved in the 1972 Claudy bombings, after a Police Ombudsman report found police, church and state colluded to protect the Catholic priest.

Monday, 30 August 2010
Tags: Troubles churches Local News

Fr Chesney, who died from cancer, aged 46, in 1980, was never questioned by police despite being suspected of involvement in the atrocity.

Last week, a report by Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson revealed that the RUC investigation into the atrocity was "compromised" after senior officers conspired with the Government and Church to protect him.

Writing in the Irish News, Bishop Daly, who was in charge of the Derry diocese between 1974 and 1993, hit out at the media for not questioning "key aspects of the Ombudsman report".

"I find media coverage of the Claudy Report very disquieting. Media have not questioned key aspects of the Ombudsman's Report in relation to allegations that Fr James Chesney was a senior IRA figure directly linked to the bombings," Bishop Daly said.

"The once sacrosanct presumption of innocence has been dispensed with and replaced with a presumption of guilt."

After the atrocity, Fr Chesney was called in for questioning by the-then Bishop of Derry Neil Farren and his successor, Edward Daly, and denied any involvement in the attack.

He was transferred to a parish in Co Donegal, outside the Northern Ireland jurisdiction in 1973, following secret talks between then Secretary of State William Whitelaw and the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal William Conway.

"I am not at all convinced that Father Chesney was involved in the Claudy bombings", Bishop Daly writes.

"I may be mistaken, but I do not think so. I was a contemporary of his at school. I did not know him very well but knew him reasonably well.

"I have seen convictions based on signed admissions and forensic evidence completely overturned years later. Fr Chesney was never arrested, questioned, charged or convicted. He cannot answer for himself. He has been dead 30 years."

At the time, senior politicians feared the arrest of a priest in connection with the atrocity could destabilise the security situation even further.

The 1972 Claudy bombing occurred six months after Bloody Sunday on the bloodiest month of the bloodiest year of the Troubles.

"It is a huge insult to suggest I would knowingly allow someone whom I knew to be a mass murderer to serve as a priest in my diocese", Bishop Daly writes.

"I do not accept theories - voiced by several people in the aftermath of the Report - about priests being endangered and a possible subsequent fall-out in society if Fr Chesney had been arrested."

According to intelligence reports, detectives believed Fr Chesney was the IRA's director of operations in south Derry.

Last week, Mr Hutchinson also revealed that the police had intelligence suggesting that Fr Chesney continued to be involved in the IRA after the Claudy bombing.

Bishop Daly says he does not accept the Ombudsman's suggestion "that Fr Chesney continued his republican activities when he was in Donegal."

"As bishop at that time, I was aware of his previous espousal of views, and he knew I was having him observed. There was a never a complaint about him."

Last week, Cardinal Sean Brady denied that the Catholic Church covered up the activities of Father Chesney

"The Claudy dead and wounded and their relatives deserve both truth and justice", Bishop Daly wrote in the Irish News.

"They were also cruelly deceived by senior RUC figures and the Northern Ireland Secretary in the failure to ensure that the bombing was thoroughly investigated."

Last week, Secretary of State Owen Paterson apologised to the Claudy families on behalf of the UK Government.

Nine people were killed and 30 were injured in the Co Londonderry village when three car bombs exploded in quick succession on 31 July 1972.

http://www.u.tv/News/Bishop-slams-Claudy...bc56a0c628

[Jan Klimkowski]

Meanwhile, some old-fashioned military shoot to kill...

Catholic church backs call for inquiry into Ballymurphy massacre

Bishop will urge government to apologise to relatives of 11 who died in British army killings in August 1971

Press Association guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 July 2010 17.41 BST

The Catholic church today backed calls for an independent inquiry into the British army killings of 11 people in west Belfast almost 40 years ago.

The Bishop of Down and Connor, Noel Treanor, will urge the British government to apologise and declare innocent those shot dead in the so-called Ballymurphy massacre when he meets bereaved families tomorrow.

He will also hand the relatives previously undisclosed church archive documents relating to the deaths in August 1971.

Catholic priest Hugh Mullan was among the 11 civilians shot dead by British soldiers over a three-day period in the republican neighbourhood.

The military entered the area to round up suspected paramilitaries after the Northern Ireland government introduced the controversial policy of internment without trial.

The relatives' calls for an internationally chaired independent inquiry have intensified since the publication in June of the Saville report into the British army killings of 13 people on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry in 1972.

Some of the soldiers who were involved in that notorious incident in Derry had been in Ballymurphy six months earlier.

A spokesman for the Catholic church said Treanor would take a tour of the area where the shootings took place before handing over the archive files to the relatives. "The bishop will be voicing his support for the families' request to have an inquiry," he added.

The documents include the church's report into what happened, based on witness accounts. A number of British military personnel are among those interviewed.

The authors of the report said the killings were not justified. "We are convinced that the British army units involved, whether through fear or vindictiveness, unnecessarily fired a large number of rounds into the waste grounds across which innocent men, women and children were fleeing … certainly the fatalities did not occur in a crossfire," the report stated.

The church is to conduct further archive searches for material related to the killings.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/29...hy-inquiry

[Jan Klimkowski]

Martin McGuinness decides to change his story.

Why?

McGuinness met Claudy bomb suspect priest Fr Chesney

September 8, 2010

The priest suspected of being involved in the 1972 Claudy bombing met Martin McGuinness shortly before he died.

The Sinn Fein MP said Fr James Chesney talked about his support for a united Ireland, but he did not mention the attack, which killed nine people.

"I never knew Fr Chesney before Claudy; I never knew Fr Chesney for many years after the bombing," he said.

"I was told he was a republican sympathiser; would I go and see him and meet with him in County Donegal?"

Northern Ireland's deputy first minister added: "There was no mention whatsoever of the Claudy bomb. During the course of that, he just talked about his support for a united Ireland."

In 2002, Mr McGuinness issued a statement to BBC Northern Ireland current affairs programme Spotlight, saying: "I have never met Father Chesney, nor do I have any knowledge of him other than from media reports."

The Police Ombudsman said last month that the police, the Catholic Church and the state conspired to cover up Fr Chesney's suspected role the no-warning car bomb, one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles.

The investigation found high-level talks led to Fr Chesney, a suspect in the attack, being moved to the Irish Republic.

No action was ever taken against Fr Chesney, who detectives believed was the IRA's 'director of operations' in south County Londonderry. He died of cancer in 1980 at the age of 46.

No paramilitary group has ever claimed responsibility for the Claudy bombings, and no-one has been convicted of them.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said the government at the time should have carried out an investigation.

"The government is profoundly, profoundly sorry that Fr Chesney was not properly investigated for his suspected involvement in this hideous crime at the time, and that the victims and their families have quite simply been denied justice," he said.

"But I do also want to reiterate that although the government acted wrongly in not insisting that the police investigate, it was terrorists who were responsible for this despicable and evil attack."

Mr Clegg was speaking in the Commons in response to a question from DUP MP Gregory Campbell.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11229268

[Jan Klimkowski]

More on McGuinness changing his story....

The Irish Times - Thursday, September 9, 2010

McGuinness reveals he met Fr Chesney

THE NORTH’S Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness told yesterday of how he met Fr James Chesney shortly before his death but that he knew nothing of the allegations that the priest was one of the Claudy bombers.

Mr McGuinness said while he was in the IRA in Derry city in 1972 he did not know who carried out the attack and still didn’t know.

The Claudy bombing happened on July 31st, 1972, killing nine people and injuring over 30. It happened on the same day as Operation Motorman, a major British army manoeuvre to clear no-go areas in Derry.

It was viewed as a diversionary tactic by the IRA at the time, even though the IRA has never formally admitted it was responsible for the three car bombs that exploded in the south Co Derry village which is 10 miles from Derry city.

Last month the North’s Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson endorsed the allegation that at the time the RUC had high-level intelligence that Fr Chesney was one of the bombers.

He also reported how the RUC was in contact with former Northern secretary William Whitelaw and former Catholic primate Cardinal William Conway about the allegations and that Fr Chesney was transferred out of Derry to a parish in Donegal and that he was never arrested by police about the bombing.

The DUP MP for East Derry Gregory Campbell, several other politicians and some of the bereaved and injured in the Claudy attack, including Ulster Unionist Derry city councillor Mary Hamilton, have challenged Mr McGuinness to be forthcoming about the bombing.

In 2002 in an interview with BBC’s Spotlight programme Mr McGuinness said he never met Fr Chesney. But he said yesterday that shortly before Fr Chesney’s death from cancer in 1980 the priest asked to see him.

“When I met Fr Chesney . . . I was unaware at that time of the allegations against him,” he said.

“I was asked to visit him as someone who was dying and was a republican sympathiser. Sadly I have had many such meetings over the years. The Claudy attack or the IRA were not discussed in our conversation,” added Mr McGuinness.

“There was no discussion whatsoever about IRA actions of any description. It was basically a political discussion on his strong views that Ireland should be united,” he said.

“In 2002 I gave my statement to the BBC in good faith. It is only recently that in the controversy surrounding the publication of the ombudsman’s report and the allegations from RUC sources about Fr Chesney that I was reminded of my visit to him shortly before his death. That is the only contact I ever had with Fr Chesney,” he said.

Mr McGuinness said he was aware that there was a public perception that the IRA was behind the Claudy attack but that he didn’t know who was responsible. “I was in Derry city at the time of the move by the British army into the city and that was on the same day as the Claudy bomb,” he said.

“I was very angry when I heard that a number of bombs had exploded in Claudy and that innocent people had been killed and I think those people in Claudy are entitled to the truth,” he added.

He said the IRA in Derry city “played no part” in the bombing. He also met “two very senior members of the IRA in Dublin” at the time. “I asked was the IRA involved in the Claudy bomb and they told me no, and it has been a mystery ever since.”

Mr McGuinness said he was sympathetic to the view of the former Catholic bishop of Derry, Dr Edward Daly, who expressed scepticism about whether the priest was implicated. The perception about the IRA and Fr Chesney could have arisen from information put out by the RUC, he suggested.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/irel...14977.html

Meanwhile Gerry Adams defends McGuinness for changing his account:

Adams defends McGuinness over Claudy priest meeting

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has defended Martin McGuinness over his recollections of a meeting with a priest alleged to have been involved in the Claudy bombings.

In 2002, Mr McGuinness told the BBC he had never met Father James Chesney.

On Wednesday the deputy first minister said he now recalled going to the priest's deathbed in 1980.

Mr Adams said Mr McGuinness had been honest about his memories.

He added that his colleague could have kept "schtum" on the issue and that the deputy first minister had issued the statement saying he had met Fr Chesney "of his own volition".

"It is not a sin or a crime or offence to forget a meeting," he said.

"The statement Martin issued at some point in the past saying he had never met Father Chesney in my opinion was released in good faith - why otherwise would he deny it?

"When he remembered, it was he who came forward, he told me that he was going to put out the statement.

"He told me it was because of the appeal from the families on the back of the recent report (Claudy bomb report).

"Martin was out of the country on holiday when the report was released and he told me when he returned that as soon as he got the first opportunity he was going to add his voice on this issue in support of the families' right to the truth."

Earlier this week, Mr McGuinness said that in his meeting with Fr Chesney, the priest had talked about his support for a united Ireland, but did not mention the 1972 Claudy bombings, which killed nine people.

"I never knew Fr Chesney before Claudy; I never knew Fr Chesney for many years after the bombing," he said.

"I was told he was a republican sympathiser; would I go and see him and meet with him in County Donegal?"

In 2002, Mr McGuinness issued a statement to BBC Northern Ireland current affairs programme Spotlight, saying: "I have never met Father Chesney, nor do I have any knowledge of him other than from media reports."

On Thursday, the son of a man killed in the Claudy bombings said he did not believe Mr McGuinness has told the whole truth.

Gordon Miller, whose father David was killed in the bombings, also said he did not want to meet the Sinn Fein MP.

'Not guilty'

Mr Adams said those "bereaved through the conflict" were entitled to say "anything they want on these issues", but it was a different matter for political representatives.

He said he supported a "truth recovery process" in Northern Ireland and said Fr Chesney was "not guilty" and was not able to respond to the allegations made against him.

The Police Ombudsman said last month that the police, the Catholic Church and the state conspired to cover up Fr Chesney's suspected role the no-warning car bomb, one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles.

The investigation found high-level talks led to Fr Chesney, a suspect in the attack, being moved to the Irish Republic.

No action was ever taken against Fr Chesney, who detectives believed was the IRA's 'director of operations' in south County Londonderry. He died of cancer in 1980 at the age of 46.

No paramilitary group has ever claimed responsibility for the Claudy bombings, and no-one has been convicted of them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11258549

[Jan Klimkowski]

Meanwhile, in an article from 2006, Ruairi O'Bradaigh, a former IRA chief of staff, states that Fr Chesney told him that he had no involvement in the Claudy bombing.

Note that Ruairi O'Bradaigh split from Sinn Féin, and Adams and McGuinness, in 1986, and formed Republican Sinn Féin, which is alleged to have a military wing known as the Continuity IRA.

It is claimed that Republican Sinn Féin's relationship with the Continuity IRA is similar to the relationship between Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA when Ó Brádaigh was Sinn Féin's President

Former IRA chief says priest had no link to bombing
Published Date: 31 October 2006

A FORMER IRA Chief of Staff has revealed for the first time that a Catholic priest linked to the 1972 Claudy car bombings - in which nine people were killed - later told him he had "nothing whatsoever to do" with the atrocity.

By SEAN McLAUGHLIN

Ruairi O'Bradaigh, president of Republican Sinn Fein party, has said he has been compelled to speak out in defence of Fr. James Chesney - who died in 1980 - following repeated allegations that the priest masterminded the July 31, 1972, explosions.

Mr. O'Bradaigh said it must be distressing for the late priest's relatives, colleagues in the priesthood, parishioners and friends to continually hear him publicly accused of involvement in the bombing.

He told the 'Journal': "Since no one has come forward, I wish to put on record a conversation I had with Fr. Chesney in the 1970s.

"At a meeting in Sligo he approached me as a person he could trust. He said that rumours had been circulated that he was associated with what had happened in Claudy. He said he felt this was done because he was known to be sympathetic to the republican cause.

"He said he was on holidays in Donegal at the time the explosions took place and had heard of them through the media. He said he had nothing whatever to do with the bombings."

The Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan is expected to publish a report on the 1972 Claudy bombings inside the next month.

In recent days a number of media outlets have claimed that Ms O'Loan, who has been investigating the bombings, is preparing to report that the Catholic Church, the then RUC and the British government did indeed conspire to cover-up.

She was unavailable for comment last night.

Former IRA leader Ruairi O'Bradaigh told the 'Journal' last night that he has spoken up about the late Fr James Chesney in the face of repeated allegations that he was involved in the bombings.

He said he felt it was his "duty to fulfil the trust put in me all those years ago".

He added: "For my part I fully accept what Fr. Chesney told me" about not being involved in the bombings.

Four years ago, the retired Bishop of Derry, Dr. Edward Daly, rejected a claim that the Catholic Church colluded in a cover-up to conceal Fr. Chesney's alleged involvement in the Claudy bombings.

Dr. Daly spoke out after a local unionist politician said she had received a letter, purporting to have been written by a priest, in which he alleged that Fr. Chesney had admitted to him his role in the atrocity.

Former SDLP MP Ivan Cooper has also said he was "convinced beyond doubt" that Fr. Chesney was a member of a nine-strong IRA unit which carried out the bombings.

However, speaking in 2002, Bishop Daly - who was appointed Derry's bishop two years after the Claudy bombs - said no evidence existed to prove Fr. Chesney's involvement, nor was there any evidence to substantiate the church cover-up claim.

At that time, Dr. Daly remarked: "Whilst it is a fact that the only people who know the full truth are those who were involved in that dreadful atrocity, I am inclined to the view that Fr. Chesney was a victim of his own frequently and publicly expressed republican views in the early 1970s."

http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/Form...1850104.jp

[Jan Klimkowski]

This wikileaks cable has information relevant to this thread, and the dirty business of when and why double agents (assets) are outed.

It is still my belief that Father Chesney was most likely accused by the NI police ombudsman for (geo)political reasons, rather than any passion for the truth.

The outing, and Real IRA execution, of Denis Donaldson (see post #11 above) can also be interpreted in this light.

As can the suspicion discussed elsewhere on DPF by David Guyatt and I that the high level British intelligence asset within the IRA, known as Stakeknife, was not Freddie Scappaticci of the IRA's Internal Security Unit (aka the "Nutting Squad"), but was actually a more senior member of the IRA.

More likely, a most senior and high profile political figure.

It seems from the cable that the Irish government believed there was a more senior British asset in Sinn Fein and/or the Republican leadership than Denis Donaldson.

US embassy cables: British government had 'valuable Republican source' -
Dublin

Share9 guardian.co.uk, Sunday 12 December 2010 23.00 GMT Article historyWednesday, 31 May 2006, 16:37
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DUBLIN 000623
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
EO 12958 DECL: 01/31/2015
TAGS PREL, PGOV, PINR, ECON, EI
SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER AHERN TAKES "HARD LINE" ON DEADLINE
FOR NORTHERN EXECUTIVE
REF: DUBLIN 562
DUBLIN 00000623 001.2 OF 003
Classified By: XXXXXXXXXXXX Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).

(snip)

6. © On the whole, 2006 has been a very positive year, particularly in terms of progress in the republican community, Ahern observed. He noted that there was increasing engagement on the ground between the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and republican areas of Belfast. XXXXXXXXXXXX pointed out that the Irish and British Governments were pleasantly surprised by the public's and parties' reactions to the April 6 statement that the Assembly would reconvene. The only negative republican occurrences during the year, said Ahern, had been the April 4 murder of Denis Donaldson (the former IRA official who was out-ed as a British informant), the robbery of a liquor truck by alleged IRA members, and the discovery of a 250 lb. fertilizer bomb in Lurgan. Ahern maintained that these incidents were the work of IRA breakaway groups who were not connected with Sinn Fein leadership. He added that Sinn Fein seemed surprised and shaken by the Donaldson murder and, ironically, had supported the April 6 statement calling for reestablishment of Stormont even more strongly as a result.

(snip)

E) Denis Donaldson. McDowell believed that the out-ing of Denis Donaldson as an informant was a clear message from the British Government that it had another, more valuable, source of information within the republican leadership. He reiterated the Taoiseach's point, however, that Sinn Fein leaders appeared to have had no connection to Donaldson's murder. KENNY

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embas...ents/66093