127. Thatcher is best remembered in Northern Ireland for her hard line during a hunger strike in 1981 in which 10 prisoners died. The state, Republicans and society recognise how some informers were perpetrators of violence, whilst others were potentially victims.155. Author of. 39. Other factors include community pressure, legal grey areas,40 and differing perspectives on the motives for an alleged informer raising their case. March 22, 1987. Informer is a term frequently used by academics, security services and armed groups related to the conflict. Author of, Assistant Professor, Department of Government, American University, Washington, D.C. The states adoption of silence with various informer legacy cases suggests it primarily values protecting its contemporary intelligence operations, security and reputation. March 20, 1993: Two boys, ages 3 and 12 are killed, and another 50-some people were injured, during an IRA bombing at a shopping area in Warrington, England where bombs were placed in trash cans. The IRA alleged: Eamon Molloy a member of the IRA, was court-martialled in 1975 and found guilty of being an informer. We argue that it most certainly does. The IRA has apologised for killing some suspected informers. 32. 146. 113. Leahy, The politics, 296301, 309310. which was a key participant during the 1969-1998 Troubles in Northern Ireland. Harkin and Ingram, Stakeknife, 6069; Leahy, Intelligence War, 24, 145147, 247248; McKearney, The Provisional IRA, 242243; McIntyre, How Stakeknife, The Blanket, 11 May 2003; Morrison, Number 10s Murderer, 30 January 2016; ONeill, Files, BBC Online, 2 October 2019; Operation Kenova, An Investigation; McDonald and Cobain, IRA informer Stakeknife, The Guardian, 30 January 2018. We explain why Sinn Fin and the UK state have dealt with some conflict legacy cases involving informers but not with others. 14. Sporadic incidents occurred during the 1950s and early 60s, but lack of active support by Catholics in Northern Ireland rendered such efforts futile. Leahy, Intelligence War, 242; see also Frampton, Agents and Ambushes, 8493; Dingley and Kirk-Smith, Countering Terrorism in Northern Ireland: The Role of Intelligence; Moran, Evaluating Special Branch and the Use of Informant Intelligence in Northern Ireland. Dudai and Cohen., Triangle of Betrayal, 40. Similar challenges in reconciling former state agents with paramilitaries are evident across other conflicts. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, twenty years after their ouster by U.S. troops. Organized by Michael Eamon De Valera, The Irish revolutionary leader and . See Breen in The Belfast Telegraph, IRA must clear names of Stakeknifes informer victims with pardon, says ex-Provo, 13 April 2017. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Hennessey, The Dirty War: MI5 and the Troubles, 593596; Dingley and Kirk-Smith, Countering Terrorism in Northern Ireland: The Role of Intelligence; Moran, Evaluating Special Branch and the Use of Informant Intelligence in Northern Ireland; OKane, The Northern Ireland Peace Process, chapter one. 80. 71. We would like to thank Ian McBride, Richard English, Huw Bennett, Claudia Hillebrand, Victoria Basham, Alena Drieschova, John Harrington, the SPIN network alongside multiple Politics/IR/Law staff/students at Cardiff University for their feedback on drafts of this article. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns. The IRA issued a further statement in 2009 confirming: Bernard was an innocent victim and not an informer. Harkin and Ingram, Stakeknife, 6069; Leahy, Intelligence War, 24, 145147, 247248; McKearney, The Provisional IRA, 242243; McIntyre, How Stakeknife, The Blanket, 11 May 2003; Morrison, Number 10s Murderer, 30 January 2016. 1. Organized into small, tightly knit cells under the leadership of . It was estimated in the late 1990s that the IRA had enough weapons in its arsenal to continue its campaign for at least another decade. 383 pages. by Olivia Angelino, Thomas J. Bollyky, Elle Ruggiero and Isabella Turilli He argues some state agents protected the Republican leadership that supported the peace process and ensured its critics were undermined.19 Moloneys journalistic work reaches a similar conclusion, adding how a secret peace process was organised by specific Republican leaders.20, In contrast, Leahys detailed study specifically on the intelligence war suggests the IRAs small cell-structure in Belfast and Derry city after 1975, alongside its elusive rural units and leadership enabled it to persist. Edwards, Agents of Influence, 201202, 230. In his view, Republican leaders help maintain community cohesion by remaining hostile towards informers.28 In addition, he discusses the informer as a celebrity. The person accused of being Stakeknife (who denies it) did challenge the UK states decision not to deny they were an informer. Bowcott, IRA Mole, The Guardian, 8 July 2014. November 4, 2022 The Libyan leader . Founded in 1934 by former, Marxist-leaning members of the Irish Republican Army and Sinn Fin, the organisation attempted to revive the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), a workers' militia which had disappeared at the end of the 1922-23 Civil War. 19. The IRAs activities against the British during World War II severely embarrassed the Irish government, which remained neutral. Political considerations are intertwined with how Sinn Fin believes or knows their community might react to a particular informers return. Fifty years ago, in December 1969, the Provisional IRA was born from the widespread religious violence that had wracked the six counties of Northern Ireland since the preceding August. These cases differ from celebrity informers who continue criticising Sinn Fin. We caveat Darcys crucial analysis by detailing how and why the UK state and IRA have addressed some informer legacy cases, despite few legal incentives. They now found no evidence to support the claims made at the time. There were more loyalists in jail than republicans very often. In 2006 the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman announced there was no evidence showing McConville was an informer.136 To say this publicly was very unusual due to the neither confirm nor deny policy. The ensuing Irish civil war (192223) ended with the capitulation of the Irregulars; however, they neither surrendered their arms nor disbanded. Breen, Raymond Gilmour, Belfast Telegraph, 29 October 2016. McKittrick et al., Lost Lives, 1552; Troubles Victims Pensions, BBC News Online, 31 January 2020. Since their inception as partisan freedom force in 1919 and as a radical terrorist cell in 1969, the IRA has always made excellent use of propaganda . March 20, 1993: Two boys, ages 3 and 12 are killed, and another 50-some people were injured, during an IRA bombing at a shopping area in Warrington, England where bombs were placed in trash cans . By the summer of 1921, Ireland's bid for independence from Great Britain had all but reached an impasse. Civil War, The Civil War of 1922 to 1923 was a bitterly ironic conclusion to the struggle for independence and also a savage, destructive prelude to the history Irish Republican Army, Irish Republican Army (IRA), nationalist organization devoted to the integration of Ireland as a complete and independent unit. We are a very forgiving people. But in exchange for its independence, the old IRAs leadership agreed to allow Irelands six northern counties to remain under British rule. 59. 16. As Dudai explains, they are self-confessed informers and agents who have released memoirs, proudly share their activities and frequently speak against Sinn Fin in the post-conflict period.66 One example is Raymond Gilmour. 4.99 1916 Easter Rising GPO Badge . For years, beginning in the late 1960s, the IRA was considered one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world. March 6, 1988: Three unarmed IRA members are shot and killed by Special Air Services forces in Gibraltar. Aug. 15, 1998: An IRA splinter group called Real IRA, carries out the deadliest paramilitary attack in Northern Ireland during a car bombing in Omagh in Northern Ireland, leaving 29 dead and more than 200 wounded. Ardoyne Commemoration Project, Ardoyne, 364367. He subsequently released a memoir, worked as an advisor to the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and contributed to some court cases against Republicans. Hewitt suggests a practical and self-interested reason why handlers protect the identity of informers and it has nothing to do with safety to ensure the continued recruitment of informers in the future.120 If a potential informer is worried the state might eventually reveal their identity, they may decline working for British intelligence. 75. His cover was blown after frequently preventing IRA activities. In August 1999, An Phoblacht claimed Republicans were helping a man forced to inform after being caught stealing. However, the IRA and its political wing still oppose what it calls an illegal foreign occupation of its country. OLoan find no evidence McConville was a spy, Irish Times, 7 July 2006; reference 699 in McKittrick et al., Lost Lives. Mainstream Republicans, however, can argue state secrecy made unearthing Stakeknife difficult. Informants, BBC News Online, 11 September 2007. To learn about our use of cookies and how you can manage your cookie settings, please see our Cookie Policy. This ideological element, which fermented a disagreement over the form that Irish unity should take, complicates a purely tactical explanation for some of the splits (e.g. After the end of the Irish Civil War (192223), the IRA was around in one form or another[definition needed] for forty years, when it split into the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA in 1969. In an interview, Boucher emphasised Operation Kenova recognises how: [m]istrust of the police by some parts of the community will not be addressed unless we can confront actions of the past.142 Potentially, the state allowed this investigation to try to build trust and public confidence in the security forces. Common motives included money, ideology, coercion, ego, excitement and revenge.147 Martin Ingram, a former British intelligence member, found IRA informers had many motivating factors including revenge, coercion, good, old-fashioned greed, excitement and ideology.148. The IRA were less interested in killing people, but they absolutely still did. The Troubles came to an end, at least officially, with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which created a . Cases that might raise questions about ongoing intelligence practises may be overlooked. They suggest the UK has engaged in implausible deniability with intelligence operations. Their violent comrades proceeded to launch a series of bombing campaigns around Northern Ireland and in Britain targeting both military targets and civilian populations. Bell, J. Bower, The Secret Army. Leahy, Intelligence War, 58, 210248. For examples of inquiries/reports discussing infiltration of paramilitaries, see Patrick Finucane Review; and Rosemary Nelson Inquiry Report. The British government suspended Northern Irelands power-sharing government after Unionists announced they would not remain in government with Sinn Fein until the IRA "put its weapons beyond use" and renounced violence. We also thank all contributors to the research. The widespread opposition to the amnesty plan amongst all major political parties in Northern Ireland, victims/survivor groups and the Irish Government has seemingly led to it being put aside for now.39 Our article enables us to understand how past actions by Sinn Fin and the UK Government towards informer legacy cases can help predict what they will return to doing if the amnesty plan is formally shelved. The states monopoly of knowing who informed and what they did is crucial. Public pressure from Irish Nationalist has certainly grown about the Stakeknife case.141 The state perhaps realised continued silence might enable Republicans to control the narrative surrounding Stakeknife and damage the states reputation. Willie Deasy, left, was one of six young I . The IRA conducted attacks until its cease-fire in 1997 and agreed to disarm as a part of the 1998 Belfast Agreement, which established the basis for . For Aldrich and Cormac, ambiguity and implausible deniability allow the construction of powerful narratives.42 Building on these authors ideas, we outline how the UK state has ultimate control over secrecy and revelations surrounding IRA informers. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Barker thanked Gilmour and other agents for helping to save lives.128 DUP MPs also wrote to the Northern Ireland Secretary of State in 2012 demanding Gilmour and other agents receive support.129, Multiple reasons including self-preservation could explain the states (in)action. Since 1999 the IRA has located the remains of some people it accused of informing and whom it admits disappearing (burying in an unmarked grave). Rob Lewis, a former British agent handler, has written: [t]he world of the informant is a very lonely one.158 We suggest this remains the case post-conflict. . In Irish law,[2] this IRA was the army of the revolutionary Irish Republic as declared by its parliament, Dil ireann, in 1919. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Convinced by the Irish and British governments that a cease-fire would be rewarded with participation in multiparty talks, in August 1994 the IRA declared a complete cessation of all military activities, and in October a similar cease-fire was declared by loyalist paramilitary groups fighting to preserve Northern Irelands union with Britain. But I disagree that the British government just let Loyalist terrorists go free. Reasons outlined above including self-preservation, protecting current and previous agents and intelligence activities account for this approach. There were a million Brits born there. Whilst denials provide political capital for Sinn Fin, the UK state seems more concerned with protecting its national security, intelligence practises and international reputation today. Most convictions were later overturned.101 One womans partner was remanded in custody. During the conflict, the IRA warned: Volunteers found guilty of treason face the death penalty.61 Dudai argues hatred towards informers: is especially strong in relation to those considered to have betrayed national armed struggles.62 The Republican newspaper An Phoblacht believed: to betray ones country is to reject ones own people. (Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Angus MacSwan). 3 From Dublin drunk to Burmese monk - the Irishman who became the first western Buddhist monk. Global Health Program, Higher Education Webinar: Teaching the History of American Democracy, Webinar Yet the actions of specific informers have contributed to this situation. Morrison, No 10s murderer, 30 January 2016. Anthony Braniff, An Phoblacht, 25 September 2003. This series is made possible by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Dudai suggests celebrity informers help sustain Republican hostility towards them by singing from the same hymn sheet as republican political opponents in contemporary politics.29, In a separate article, Dudai presents the IRAs multifaceted response to informers during the conflict. the July 1972 bombing spree known as Bloody Friday, in which downtown Belfast was rocked by twenty-two bombs in seventy-five minutes, leaving nine dead and 130 injured; the 1979 assassination of Lord Mountbatten, Queen Elizabeth IIs uncle and the last Viceroy of India; the 1984 bombing of a Brighton hotel where then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet were meeting, which wounded several British officials and killed four other Britons; a 1993 car bombing in Londons financial district, Canary Wharf, that killed one person and caused $1 billion of damage; mortar attacks on the British prime ministers residence and Londons Heathrow Airport in the early 1990s; bombings of civilian targets, including pubs, shops, and subway stations, in Northern Ireland and Britain throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The provisional Irish Republican Army, or IRA, is an outgrowth of an older group known as the Irish Republican Army, which fought an insurgency that successfully challenged British rule in the whole of Ireland in the early years of the twentieth century. 104. Breen, Agents, Sunday Life, 12 July 2008. Sinn Fins strong recent electoral performances suggest minimal adverse impacts from the apologies. He indicated, however, that Thatcher played a role in opening up secret channels of communications with the IRA, but that it was not properly utilised until after she stepped down as prime minister. : Irish Republican Ar . https://static.rasset.ie/documents/news/smithwick-tribunal-final.pdf, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/246867/0802.pdf, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/247461/0947.pdf, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/20457, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/10570, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/22/hamas-executes-suspected-infomers-gaza, https://doi.org/10.1080/02684520500425273, https://thedisappearedni.co.uk/index.php/people-found, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3208620.stm, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/08/ira-informer-martin-mcgartland-secret-hearing-mi5, https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/the-son-raymond-gilmour-hadnt-seen-for-33-years-tells-of-his-relief-at-death-of-the-supergrass-35187017.html, https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/raymond-gilmour-abandoned-ira-supergrass-lay-dead-in-his-flat-for-up-to-a-week-35171158.html, https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/government-to-introduce-statute-of-limitations-on-troubles-prosecutions-40651230.html, https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2017.1349036, https://doi.org/10.1080/09592310903027132, https://doi.org/10.1080/03086534.2012.697618, https://doi.org/10.1080/14754830601084642, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20272671, https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/former-intelligence-agent-kevin-fulton-who-was-born-in-newry-but-now-lives-somewhere-in-the-uk-is-in-hiding-from-the-ira-and-suing-the-british-government-for-a-severance-package-here-the-man-whose-been-described-variously-as-a-nuisance-a-rel-28026822.html, https://www.derryjournal.com/news/gilmour-collapse-1984-trial-against-derry-35-764619, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/13/hamas-amnesty-palestinian-spying-israel, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/19131, https://doi.org/10.1080/09670882.2016.1264097, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6989698.stm, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/5262, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/16645, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/4724, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-46598765, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/real-ira-claims-responsibility-for-2006-murder-of-denis-donaldson-1.743805, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/10046, https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2018.1517299, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/3592, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/02/former-british-spy-martin-mcgartland-police-report-confirms-shot-by-ira, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/30/ira-informer-stakeknife-arrested-in-investigation, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/29/sean-o-callaghan-obituary, http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu:81/paved.html, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-spys-tale-the-life-and-death-of-denis-donaldson-6104526.html, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/15875, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/16686, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/apology-from-ira-for-youth-s-murder-welcomed-1.1161994, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/more-than-20-people-may-be-prosecuted-after-stakeknife-inquiry-1.4038780, https://sluggerotoole.com/2006/01/18/exiles_cannot_expect_a_welcome_home/, https://www.dannymorrison.com/the-times-of-no-10s-main-murderer/, https://doi.org/10.1080/02684521003588070, https://policinginsight.com/features/interview/operation-kenova-the-pain-for-these-families-has-never-gone-away-says-former-chief/, http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0511/breaking31.html, https://doi.org/10.1285/i20356609v15i1p107, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/o-loan-finds-no-evidence-mcconville-was-a-spy-1.789556, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49913050, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/1647, http://www.belfastdaily.co.uk/2014/05/26/revealed-mcguinness-legal-threat-over-raymond-gilmour-book/, https://thedisappearedni.co.uk/index.php/missing, https://doi.org/10.1080/02684529708432416, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-51318297, https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/1181, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27235088, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csy98m, Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing & Allied Health. The British government was responsible for the treatment of IRA prisoners, they refused to improve conditions for the prisoners until shortly after the hunger strikers died. Feb. 9, 1996:The IRA ends the ceasefire when it bombs the Docklands area of London, killing two and injuring more than 100 people and causing an estimated 150 million worth of damage. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. The agent Stakeknife, some SAS ambushes against the IRA that led to deaths of Republicans and at times civilians (even if unintentional), and incidents that Republicans labelled as shoot-to-kill ambushes in north Armagh in the mid-1980s are a few examples.26. We suggest because the state does not want to acknowledge in detail past unethical actions of particular informers and security operations (in fear of contemporary political and security repercussions) it tried to introduce an amnesty. RUC Refines its Informers Strategy, An Phoblacht, 2 July 1992, p.89. On July 28, 2005, however, the IRA announced that it had ended its armed campaign and instead would pursue only peaceful means to achieve its objectives. He reappeared in UK media in 2007, seeking assurance from Sinn Fin that he could return safely to visit family in Derry. Rate this book. Yet both oppose informers within their own ranks. by Lindsay Maizland I'll just ask my Granddad. The reason for the controversy is that some view the IRA as a terrorist group and other view them as an organized paramilitary of freedom fighters. Moloney, Secret History, 336, 574582. WE HAVE seen it before and we are apt to see it again. The formal . There is not a normative position emerging from the existing literature. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. In 2002, support for the Good Friday Agreement reached its lowest levels since the document's adoption. 21. Rosemary Nelson was a solicitor who was killed when a loyalist paramilitary group planted a bomb in her car at her home in Lurgan, in 1999. The Irish Republican Army has kept every commitment made by its leadership. McDonald, Former British Spy, The Guardian, 2 September 2019. Divisions between suspected or self-confessed informers contribute to Republicans and the state responding inconsistently to legacy cases. 38. Cooper and Black in The Belfast Telegraph, Government to introduce statute of limitations on Troubles Prosecutions, 13 July 2021. The Loyalists were well, a lot of fucked up shit happened. 47. Description. The latter then had its own breakaways, namely the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, each claiming to be the true successor of the Army of the Irish Republic. My Dad was stationed in England during the Troubles, and I spent 4 years of my schoolboy days living in England and going to school there. The agreement paved the way for peace talks that led to the IRA's first ceasefire in 1994 and . For an assessment of The Blanket see: . Weekly. Or when they kill people in a foreign country that again havent done anything to them? Gerry Adams. It assists Republican leaders in overlooking and arguing against many celebrity informer legacy cases.90, Nonetheless, the IRA and Sinn Fin have responded to other cases. March 1, 1981: Bobby Sands, an Irish-Catholic IRA member, starts what will become a 66-day hunger strike. Current evidence suggests there will not willingly be full disclosure by any side on this issue in Northern Ireland. The contemporary political consequences of addressing an alleged informers case are important. Americans for the most part that were exposed to the IRA looked at them much the sa. Here, the Man Whose Been Described Variously as a Nuisance, a Reliable I. Fulton, Kevin with Jim Nally and Ian Gallagher. Tensions rose and Britain deployed regular army troops to the provinces streets, ostensibly to protect the Catholic minority. Willie Carlin, a former British Army agent who infiltrated Sinn Fin, was swiftly relocated by British intelligence when his cover was blown in 1985. 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Manage your cookie settings, please see our cookie Policy lot of fucked up happened..., tightly knit cells under the leadership of with some conflict legacy cases suggests it values... 2 September 2019 in reconciling former state agents with paramilitaries are evident across other conflicts an...