Without the use of ‘Agents’ and ‘Informers’ the security services on both sides of the Irish Border would have had minimal success in the fight against terrorism. Some of the highest ranking members of Sinn Fein/IRA were and remain ‘Agents’ and ‘Informers’. People such as Sean O’Callaghan operated shoulder to shoulder with Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy and Kevin Mc Kenna, both of whom served as Chief of Staff of the PIRA, while at the same time Sean O’Callaghan was an ‘Agent’ working for the security services.
The work of Sean O’Callaghan as an active agent within the PIRA and his work as an advisor to M16 while the PIRA leadership were in ‘talks’ with Martin Mc Guinness and the PIRA leadership, has saved hundreds of lives.
Denis Donaldson who was murdered by cowards and criminals in Donegal, worked as an agent within the leadership of Sinn Fein/IRA and was an invaluable sourse of information for the security services, Donaldson was not the only senior member of Sinn Fein working for the security services.
The work of Donaldson and O’Callaghan was exceptional and remains of significant importance to this very day and beyond. Unlike informers like Martin Mc Gartland who was paid shillings by his RUC handlers to sell out his comrades, O’Callaghan and Donaldson were at the heart of the leadership of Sinn Fein/IRA and were determined ‘Agents’ who risked death on a daily basis to help bring about an end to terrorist violence.
Neither Donaldson nor O’Callaghan done this work for simple monetary gain, it is clear that both men were determined to play a central role in bringing about an end to the sectarian criminality that was being played out on the streets of Northern Ireland every day.
Personally, I have never been able to stomach informers, those horrible little people who sell their soul to the devil just to get drinking money to drown out their sad existence. They would sell out their mother just to get a few shillings to supplement their social welfare payments. They meet their handlers in the backs of vans and cars while parked in the dark alley ways of Belfast or hotel car parks in County Tyrone.
However, I have always had admiration for those men and women who decide that they really want to make a difference by acting as ‘Agents’ within the ranks of the terrorist organizations, these people have courage that their tormentors have not.
This week we have seen the fifth adjournment of the inquest into the cowardly murder of Denis Donaldson in Donegal. The Gardai are making progress in that murder investigation and we wish them well in that.
It has long been believed that a senior member of the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional IRA murdered Denis Donaldson, that murderer should hang his head in shame. What a coward. Denis Donaldson was a soft target; he was a broken man, a man unable to defend himself against the brute that blasted him with a shot gun at close range. If there is justice in this world we can only hope and pray that the coward who murdered Denis will be brought to justice.
