Former British spy found dead

Denis Donaldson, former #3 in Sinn Fein who admitted in December that he’d been a spy for the British for 25 years, has been found shot dead near his home in Ireland. The murder comes just two days before a new powersharing plan is to be announced in Belfast. The IRA denies involvement, but the group’s ...

Denis Donaldson, former #3 in Sinn Fein who admitted in December that he'd been a spy for the British for 25 years, has been found shot dead near his home in Ireland. The murder comes just two days before a new powersharing plan is to be announced in Belfast.

Denis Donaldson, former #3 in Sinn Fein who admitted in December that he’d been a spy for the British for 25 years, has been found shot dead near his home in Ireland. The murder comes just two days before a new powersharing plan is to be announced in Belfast.

The IRA denies involvement, but the group’s foot soldiers had plenty of grievances against Donaldson. Any IRA agent picked up by the British in the last few decades could legitimately question whether Donaldson fingered him. Even if Gerry Adams issued orders that Donaldson wasn’t to be touched, plenty of republicans had a motive.

But Donaldson was unlucky to have enemies on both sides of the aisle. There are plenty in London who wouldn’t want Donaldson to clean out the skeletons in his closet. In 2002, the goverment in Belfast was suspended – and power devolved back to London – after allegations of an IRA spy ring targeting rival political parties surfaced. Donaldson was one of those arrested. The charges against him were quietly dropped late last year, and shortly after, he admitted being a British agent since the 1980s.

The revelation was explosive because it meant – as some alleged – that British "securocrats" may have concocted the spy plot in a bid to discredit Sinn Fein, a group they didn’t trust and didn’t want participating in the government. It was a bizarre twist in the saga of Northern Irish politics. But Donaldson death means we will be unable to either affirm or deny British complicity in bringing down a democratic government. This development will surely throw a wrench in the powersharing plans due to be unveiled this week. While there will be further denials from Sinn Fein, there will surely be those who accuse the group of being bloodthirsty thugs undeserving of a place in government.

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.
Tag: Europe

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