Sinn Fein member a British agent for 20 years. The Stormont spy case a PSNI/MI5 hoax to pull down the GFA.
Published: 19 December, 2005
Action Alert:
Late last week, Denis Donaldson, a long standing member of Sinn Fein, admitted to having been a British agent for 20 years.
Below are statements from Gerry Adams and Mr. Donaldson.
Please note that the same people who tell us that they support the Good Friday Agreement, i.e., Mr. Blair and his government, have been proactive in shutting it down through covert operations of the PSNI Special Branch, British military intelligence, and media manipulation.
Either Toni Blair and PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde knew that the so called Stormont Spy case was a fraud and that Denis Donaldson, the primary, alleged purpetrator in the case, was a paid British agent or they should have. Who runs the show?
The responsibility for the past three years of stagnation and abuse of democracy in the north of Ireland are now placed directly at Number 10 Downing Street.
If Mr Blair and Hugh Orde were innocent in this disgraceful, undercover destruction of the GFA, heads would roll in the PSNI and MI5. That has not happened.
Tony Blair and the British government can be contacted through : The British Embassy, 3100 Mass Ave NW,
Phone: 202-588-7800; Fax: 202-745-0359; Email: www.ppa@washington.mail.fco.gov.uk.
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Gerry Adams Press Conference – Friday 16th December
As you are aware Denis Donaldson has been expelled from Sinn Féin. I want to read a statement and then I’ll take some questions.
As you know, the nature of British rule in
Reverse three years ago the British Government suspended the power sharing arrangement at Stormont including the structure of the Good Friday Agreement. That was blamed on a so-called Sinn Féin spy ring.
The fact is that there was no Sinn Féin spy ring at Stormont. The fact is that this was a carefully constructed lie created by the Special Branch in order to cause maximum political impact. We have been consistent in saying that the suspension that of the political institutions was a direct result of the actions of some of those who run the intelligence and policing system of the British. We can now confirm that at the centre of that was an SF member who was a British agent.
What is clear is that there are those within the PSNI and the intelligence agencies who are a law onto themselves, There is no accountability, no transparency and most people don’t know who they are.
We have been warning about the negative power of those in the British system who are against the Good Friday Agreement and against the new dispensation. It is those people who have engineered the conditions whereby the political institutions were suspended.
Here you have the stated policy of the two governments being subverted by agencies of one of the governments. Here you have agencies of the British Government actively opposing British policy and subverting an international agreement and treaty. I have spoken to
The fact is if
Obvoiusly a lot will be written and said about this event but for us it underlines the need for an end to political policing. That, and defending the Good Friday Agreement remains the focus of Sinn Féin.
Questions
Details – when, how
The sequence is quite clear. I was very suspicious and some of us were very suspicious when the events of 2002 unfolded, when we saw the orchestrated operation up at Stormont. Because we knew there was no Sinn Féin spy ring at Stormont.
And when we saw people arrested and charged I knew there was somebody wrong. And more recently when the case collapsed, this suspicion was deepened. Around that time Denis Donaldson was approached by PSNI and was told that his life was in danger and he was going to be outed as an agent and informer. That was brought to my attention a day later.
He went to the Chairperson of our Six County Cuige and said that the police were at his door and told him that his life was in danger and he was advised by the Cuige Chair to get in touch with his solicitor. When it was brought to my attention, I instructed two party officials to put this to Denis and asked if there any truth to this he should come clean. That happened and he was interviewed in the Sinn Féin office on the Falls Road. He admitted to working for the British as an agent. He was advised to contact his solicitor and he was advised that he was dismissed from the Sinn Féin party. This was after we had the opportunity to discuss all of this.
If you want my best quess. As we enter the upcoming period and IMC reports, elements in the PSNI, and this is only my opinion, were informing Denis Donaldson that his life was in danger, that he was going to be outed, that this was going to be a big story. All sorts of ramifications about this and peace process would go into another engineered crisis - another family taken out of their home.
Who were members of party who questioned him and when and how did it unfold
GA – my instructions to the Chair of Six County Cuige Declan Kearney and one of the officials who worked for Health Minister, Leo Green – was that an interview was to conducted in keeping with SF rules and regulations and in keeping with his rights as a member.
Did you have suspicions before now
I had suspicions that something was wrong but no specific suspicions about him
Where is he?
I understand he is with his solicitor
Did he say how long he was been an agent?
Said he has been working as a British agent for about 20 years
What kind of info was collected/do you know what was his role?
I don’t know. I suppose we will find that out in due course. I have been involved in other party business for a few days. I haven’t even been briefed directly by the party officials who interviewed him.
How did he get involved?
He said that he was compromised. These are questions that I probably should not even answer because I don’t want to this to be taken up wrong. It is obvious that people who become British agents are people who are blackmailed, bullied, coerced, bought, broken, used, abused and then thrown to one side when they are finished with
Did he receive money?
Yes we are told he did receive money
Did the British not realise that this was going to come out?
These are questions that you will have to put to the British. The point I have been trying to make clear. The British Government runs agents everywhere on this island, it’s the nature of the beast and that’s what informs its policy. The fact is that there have been huge changes in the north over the last number of years – changes in policing which are not yet complete, the very fact that Sinn Féin was going to go into Government. Some of those who run those agents, they hate republicans with a passion, for them the war is not over. For them the Good Friday Agreement was a big mistake, for them Tony Blair should have let them get at republicans. There are those who continue to operate within the Special Branch of the PSNI. Check this out: They are the people who orchestrated this… Huge Orde has talked about people within police service who want him to fail. We have a situation, against a background of British policy being informed almost entirely by securocrats and by security community and within that a core who won’t let go and they are the people who are manipulating the situation.. I have given the British Government and the Taoiseach ample examples over the last 7 or 8 years of this behaviour and there has rarely been a meeting where we have not pointed to an example of it happening.
Is he still in family home, is he with his family?
Not conscious of any of that. Just know he is speaking to his solicitor
Is he in any danger?
From whom
Anybody
Clearly he is in danger from those who have been handling him for a very long time. Certainly no threat to him from any republican organisation. Sinn Féin have dealt with this in a very clear way and within our own rules.
Effect on peace process?
Well it is hard to know to be honest. But you see societies in transition, and even if you want to step back from this for a few minutes, there has been a war for 30 years … have the British Government as part of their demilitarisation started to pull back their intelligence operation, have they started to tackle dissidents within their system who are trying to subvert British policy? It’s only when you get an answer to that question that you will get an answer as to what effect this will have in terms of the developing peace process.
Any more agents?
I said earlier, and I’m not paranoid, that for every agent there are tens of thousands of good solid strong republicans and republicans shouldn’t let their heads go down with all of this. But there are agents in different government agencies and in different services in this state, still people being paid or coerced to follow an old agenda. Sinn Féin have nothing to fear from any of this. No damage was done to Sinn Féin, damage was done to power sharing institutions. They are down and have to be put back up again. What damage to peace process has been done. We have to be savvy with how we deal with some of these issues and some of these we will never get to the bottom of and to be honest I am too busy to even try. Our job is to keep moving the process forward and not be deflected or to be brought into cul-de-sacs by those who have a narrow militaristic game to play.
Could this have happened within PSNI without approval of political masters in
Well I would be shocked if for one moment I thought that the Prime Minister was part of any plot to take down a power sharing executive that he spent a considerable amount of time working with the rest of us putting in place. Am I naïve? Were reports filed by Denis Donaldson which went across the desk of Tony Blair?…may have been. That’s why I go back to what I said earlier. They are totally dependent on intelligence services, what they have are some elements who are out of control and who are working to their own agenda.
Did Denis Donaldson have access to top files?
No. He had access to the Stormont. He is a long time member of Sinn Féin so he would have been on friendly terms with many people within Sinn Féin. He is not on our negotiations team, not a member of the Ard Chomhairle, not involved in any senior leadership forums within the party, but yes he was a long standing member
Do we know the turn of events which led Denis Donaldson to believe he would be outed?
Well, I can only speculate and I think I answered this a moment ago. It is purely speculative on my part but I would like to think it is informed speculation. And I’ll go over it again. He was visited by PSNI. They told him he was going to be outed as an informer and his life was in danger. He contact the Chair of the Six County Cuige who advised him to get a solicitor, and the next day he advised me of that;. I then asked the Chair to go and to bring a witness and to ask Denis Donaldson was this true, was there any truth to allegation
Did they say why he was going to be outed?
My view is that those elements who orchestrated the raid at Stormont and who brought down the power-sharing executive were not satisfied that this whole thing collapsed and were about outing him and about creating another crisis in the peace process. You could have had for example a situation where Denis Donaldson ran away or indeed, as has happened before, where the PSNI would have arrived in and took him out or you guys would have received a briefing saying that there is someone in protective custody in the north who is under threat from republicans. That is only speculation on my part but I think it is informed speculation.
When you asked if he received money ... did he admit he received it?
He did say he received money. I don’t want to comment on any of the detail because I want to try and be accurate in what I am saying.
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Donaldson statement in full
This is the full statement by the former Sinn Fein head of administration at Stormont, Denis Donaldson:
"My name is Denis Donaldson. I worked as a Sinn Fein Assembly group administrator in Parliament Buildings at the time of the PSNI raid on the Sinn Fein offices in October 2002 - the so-called Stormontgate affair. 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.
"My last two contacts with Special Branch were as follows -two days before my arrest in October 2002 and last night, when a member of the special branch contacted me to arrange a meeting.
"I was not involved in any republican spy ring in Stormont. The so-called Stormontgate affair was a scam and a fiction, it never existed, it was created by Special Branch.
"I deeply regret my activities with British intelligence and RUC/PSNI Special Branch. I apologise to anyone who has suffered as a result of my activities as well as to my former comrades and especially to my family who have become victims in all of this."