Patrick #Finucane :They Work For You - Question - March 12th 2012

Lord Dubs (Labour)

 

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect the lack of a public inquiry into the death of Pat Finucane may have on British-Irish relations and on the Finucane family.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2012-03-12a.9.1

#Wikileaks : Denis Donaldson - British Goverment Outed Denis Donaldson As An IRA Spy To Send A Message

Denis Donaldson was outed by the British Government as a spy to send a message to the Provisionals that it had another, more valuable informant within its leadership ranks, the United States was told.

The astonishing claim from former Irish justice minister Michael McDowell came weeks after the former Sinn Fein official was shot dead by the Real IRA.

During a meeting with two senior US officials, Mr McDowell claimed Donaldson’s “outing” had been a “clear message” from the British Government.

His remarks are detailed in a confidential cable released by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. It is published on day five of the Belfast Telegraph’s serialisation of the Northern Ireland cables.

The revelation in late 2005 that Donaldson — the former head of administration for Sinn Fein at Stormont — had worked for British intelligence rocked the republican movement.

It was seen as further proof of how the highest echelons of the IRA had been infiltrated by spies for many years.

However, during a meeting with then US ambassador James Kenny and Special Envoy Mitchell Reiss in May 2005, Mr McDowell said he believed there was another, more important agent.

“McDowell believed that the outing 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,” the cable reported.

Three months later, in March 2006, Donaldson was tracked down to an isolated cottage near Glenties in Co Donegal.

The following month he was found shot dead inside the building.

In a separate meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, ambassador Kenny and Mr Reiss were told how Sinn Fein had seemed “surprised and shaken” by the Donaldson murder.

The cable said the party had supported calls for the re-establishment of Stormont — which was still suspended over allegations of a republican spy-ring — even more strongly as a result.

A post mortem later revealed Donaldson had died from a shotgun blast to the chest.

No-one has been charged in connection with his murder but the Garda investigation remains open.

In February 2009 gardai announced they had a new lead in the inquiry and, later in the year, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for his killing.

Two months ago, two men were arrested for questioning over withholding information about the murder. The pair were held at Letterkenny garda station and questioned before being released without charge.

Donaldson’s family had earlier raised concerns about the PSNI and Garda investigation into the murder, saying more could be done to probe the circumstances surrounding his death.

The family had previously issued a statement saying they did not believe that the Provisional IRA was responsible.

Among those under the Garda spotlight have been associates of republicans ‘shopped’ by Donaldson, maverick republicans who might have targeted him for personal reasons or those hard-liners who believe in killing all spies.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/wikileaks-british-government-outed-denis-donaldson-as-ira-spy-to-send-a-message-16007956.html#ixzz1lzxrNute

Finucane: Mystery Intervention Against Finucane Inquiry

Prime Minister David Cameron allegedly told the family of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane others would not let a public inquiry into his murder happen, according to High Court papers...read more

http://www.u.tv/News/Mystery-intervention-against-Finucane-inquiry/0afea0e1-3b44-4a15-b166-97fb9e1cd671?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Operation #Tuleta:Peter Hain confirms investigation by police of high security hacking

News International's chief executive denies that company was involved in any interference with Hain's computers

Letters from Peter Hain and Tom Mockridge to the Guardian

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Peter Hain says 'the Guardian story [about the possible hacking of his computers] was an entirely accurate account of my interaction with Operation Tuleta'. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Peter Hain has confirmed that police have met him to investigate the possible hacking of his computers while he was in his high security cabinet post as Northern Ireland secretary between 2005 and 2007. The approach by officers from Operation Tuleta was first reported in the Guardian last month.

News International, the former publisher of the News of the World, which has been accused in another case at the Leveson inquiry of using a former soldier to plant computer viruses, had challenged the Guardian report about the police investigation. In an email to the paper the company's chief executive, Tom Mockridge wrote: "News International has been advised that Mr Hain's computer equipment (and that of the Northern Ireland Office) was not and has not been the subject of an investigation by Operation Tuleta and there is no belief or suspicion that this equipment was hacked."

But Hain said in a letter the NI claim was incorrect. "The Guardian story was an entirely accurate account of my interaction with Operation Tuleta.

"I met with DI Beswick, head of Operation Tuleta, at his request last month to discuss an investigation into the possible hacking of three of my computers during my time as secretary of state for Northern Ireland. Two of these computers were issued by the Northern Ireland Office. One was my personal computer. I have provided the Met with account details for all three computers as they requested. This is a matter of national security and subject to a police investigation."

He added: "But I can say that the police confirmed to me they had not eliminated any news organisation from their investigation."

Mockridge denies that News International was involved in any interference with Hain's computers. The Leveson inquiry has heard from Ian Hurst, a former British army intelligence agent who recruited and ran agents within the IRA in Northern Ireland. Hurst, who also used the pseudonym Martin Ingram, told the inquiry his computer was hacked into by a Trojan virus in 2006 by private investigators on behalf of the News of the World.

The Met, whose Operation Tuleta is one of three linked investigations into computer hacking, phone hacking and police corruption, declined to comment on the meeting with Hain. Met detectives working on Tuleta have made one arrest, of a man aged 52, in Milton Keynes last month. He was held at a Thames Valley police station and later bailed. The Tuleta team reports to Scotland Yard's deputy assistant commissioner, Sue Akers.

On Wednesday detectives working on Operation Elveden, the investigation into alleged illegal payments to police, made their first arrest of a police officer. A 52-year-old woman, believed to be a royal protection officer, was arrested in Essex.

In total there have been eight arrests in connection with Elveden, and 16 arrests by officers in the Met's phone-hacking investigation, Operation Weeting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/dec/23/peter-hain-investigation-police-hacking?CMP=twt_gu

#Stakeknife : Some Stories Never Die

One such is the extraordinary Stakeknife story.

The legend of Freddie Scappaticci is about to receive renewed attention.


http://redfellow.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/some-stories-never-die/

#Smithwick : Narrow Water Cover-Up Claims Are Not Lies Insists Agent

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/narrow-water-coverup-claims-are-not-lies-insists-agent-16091881.html

The #Smithwick Tribunal

Tribunal of Inquiry  into suggestions that members of An Garda Síochána or other employees of  the State colluded in the fatal shootings of RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and RUC Superintendent Robert Buchanan on the 20^th March, 1989.

The Smithwick Tribunal was established by Resolutions passed by Dail Eireann and Seanad Eireann on the 23^rd and 24^th March 2005 respectively, and by Instrument entitled Tribunals of Inquiry Evidence Act 1921 (Establishment of Tribunal) Instrument 2005.

The sole member of the Tribunal is His Honour Mr Justice Peter Smithwick

http://www.smithwicktribunal.ie/smithwick/HOMEPAGE.html