Agents and Informers - Delta 7

Delta 7




At the height of the terrorist campaign in Northern Ireland during the late 1970s and early 1980s there was no formal arrangement between the Irish and British Governments in relation to the sharing of Intelligence about terrorists on an all Ireland basis. This intelligence deficit created a vacuum in which the terrorists could operate with relative ease. For example, if the Gardai in Dundalk had some indicators or even good intelligence that a PIRA Active Service Unit was preparing an attack in the north, that information could not simply be passed directly to the security services in Northern Ireland. Alongside this official deficit there was the usual failure of different groupings within the security services to share intelligence.



In order to side step this official deficit, a Specialist Intelligence Unit was established and was known internally as Delta 7. Delta 7 was controlled by senior Intelligence officers from the Irish security services and M15 who were also working hand in hand with the Force Research Unit. Delta 7 ran its own intelligence agents within both loyalist and republican terrorist organisations. Intelligence gained from these Intelligence agents was equally shared between both senior members of An Garda Siochana and M15. Delta 7 ensured that if there was intelligence that PIRA terrorists were known to be preparing an attack, that a cross border plan was put in place to ensure that the PIRA activists could be followed on both sides of the border and then intercepted where and when possible.



On a number of occasions information gained by Delta 7 ended in a number of what would be described as ‘Shoot-to Kill’ actions by the security services. The ‘Shoot to Kill’ policy by the British security services caused serious problems for the Irish Government as that type of high profile activity was never part of the arrangements that had been put in place. Following the 1998 signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Delta 7 was disbanded as it was believed that if it had been discovered it would have caused political embarrassment. There are now formal structures in place for the exchange of information between the British and Irish security services, and those arrangements are accepted as the norm within the new political dispensation. Many of the Agents previously handled by Delta 7 continue to operate in both the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland; some remain within the main-stream provisional republican movement while a significant number have infiltrated the ‘dissident’ groupings.



There have been suggestions that Martin Mc Guinness was a paid British Agent, this is totally without foundation, there is no doubt that Mc Guinness was naive in relation to his dealings with M16 Agent Michael Oakley ‘The Mountain Climber’, however, at all times Martin Mc Guinness was reporting directly to the PIRA Army Council which up until November 1997 included Kevin Mc Kenna and Michael Mc Kevitt. Agent Oakley was advised at all times, during his negotiations with Mc Guinness by one of Delta 7’s most successful Agents, Sean O’ Callaghan.



Other high profile Delta 7 agents would be exposed over the years including Dennis Donaldson, Freddie Scappaticci and Peter Keely who was known as agent ‘Kevin Fulton’. These three men had access to information that spanned the length and breath of Ireland, and while much of this information was not operational it was essential to mapping the PIRA leadership’s forward planning. Other less known Delta 7 agents were George Poyntz who had been a long time member of the PIRA in the south Armagh and Castleblaney area of County Monaghan. George Poyntz was eventually exposed when he played his part in a Delta 7 operation that was aimed at having INLA leader Dominic Mc Clinchy tracked and shot dead in the north. However, on the night in question Mc Clinchy did not travel north in the car in which he was supposed to travel and two other republicans Seamus Grew and Roddy Carroll were shot dead by the security services in the north. This incident with others would be known as a ‘Shoot to Kill’ policy by the security services in the north.



It is known that M15 recruited a number of agents in the north for Delta 7 and then relocated those agents into the Republic particularly in Donegal, Monaghan and Louth. It is known that agents were recruited while still in their teens, while at the same time more seasoned players such as George Poyntz were also recruited. The work of Delta 7 has never been exposed as it was always assumed that its agents were simply part of the FRU, however, its work was essential to ensuring collateral damage to some of the PIRA’s most lethal and prolific killers. Delta 7 agents continue to work within the ranks of the provisional republican movement, while their main focus is the dissident groupings. Agents are now on a more formal basis as there is a more transparent relationship between the British and Irish security services.