O’Callaghan operated as a spy for the Irish government within the Provisional IRA from 1979 until 1988. During that time, he continued to participate in Provisional IRA operations, including an attempt (which he claimed to have foiled) to murder the Prince of Wales and his then wife, Princess Diana. He also remained a member of Sinn Féin, a republican political party that was widely viewed as the political wing of the Provisional IRA. In 1985, he was elected county councilor representing Sinn Féin. Three years later, fearing for his life, O’Callaghan turned himself in to British authorities. He was prosecuted, convicted, and served a prison sentence, during which he wrote his best-selling memoir, published under the title The Informer: The True Life Story of One Man’s War on Terrorism. In it, he details his ideological change from a socialist republican to a pro-unionist, who occasionally advised the Ulster Unionist Party, a pro-British conservative political party in Northern Ireland.

After he revealed his pro-unionist sympathies, O’Callaghan was disowned by most of his family and did not even attend his father’s funeral in 1997. He lived openly in England, refusing police protection and rejecting pleas from his supporters to change his name and hide his whereabouts. He died last week from a suspected heart attack while visiting his daughter in Jamaica. He was 63.

https://intelnews.org/2017/08/29/01-2165/

An alleged British secret agent in the IRA who is accused of being linked to at least 20 murders while working for military intelligence could be charged with perjury for denying in court he was a spy, a senior UK police officer has told the Guardian.

Stakeknife, whose real name is believed to be Freddie Scappaticci, was the IRA’s chief spy catcher and received £80,000 each year as one of Britain’s most important agents within the terror group. It is alleged that his army and police handlers turned a blind eye to murders in order to promote their agent inside the IRA’s ranks.

Police are now investigating the person known as Stakeknife as part of Operation Kenova, a £35m investigation into his alleged role as an agent working for military intelligence within the IRA’s internal security department also known in Irish republican circles as “the nutting squad”.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/21/stakeknife-could-face-perjury-charges-says-senior-police-officer

“A fundamental part of that peace process is that the U.K. government needs to be impartial between all the competing interests in Northern Ireland,” Major said. “And the danger is that however much any government tries, they will not be seen to be impartial if they are locked into a parliamentary deal at Westminster with one of the Northern Ireland parties.”

“The last thing anybody wishes to see,” Major added, “is one or other of the communities so aggrieved that the hard men, who are still there lurking in the corners of the community, decide that they wish to return to some form of violence.”

That concern is made more pressing by two factors: the looming threat of Brexit, which could make it necessary to once again erect barriers along the currently invisible border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, once the U.K. leaves the European Union; and the fact that Northern Ireland’s local assembly is in crisis.

https://theintercept.com/2017/06/13/theresa-may-puts-peace-northern-ireland-risk-remain-u-k-prime-minister/

MI5 reportedly opened a file on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn amid concerns over his willingness to enter into dialogue with members of the IRA.

The security agency is believed to routinely keep files on people of interest, including political activists and campaigners. Archived documents have revealed Mr Corbyn attended several events supporting the militant Republicans during the 1980s and 1990s.

An unnamed source reportedly told The Telegraph: “If there was a file on someone, it meant they had come to notice. We opened a temporary file and did a preliminary investigation. It was then decided whether we should open a permanent file on them.”

A spokesman for the Home Office said they could neither confirm nor deny who M15 kept files on in the interests of national security.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mi5-jeremy-corbyn-files-kept-ira-sympathies-a7745966.html

Martin McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army commander and Sinn Fein political leader who helped negotiate peace in Northern Ireland after decades of sectarian violence, and became a senior official in its power-sharing government, died on Tuesday in Derry. He was 66.

Sinn Fein said Mr. McGuinness had died after a short illness. When he resigned from the Belfast government in January, The Irish Times reported that he had amyloidosis, a rare condition caused by the abnormal buildup of protein deposits in tissues and organs.

In bombings and killings that raged from the 1960s to the ’90s between Protestant and Roman Catholic forces — the Troubles that left 3,700 dead — Mr. McGuinness was widely believed to have joined, and later directed, terrorist activities. He denied the allegations. His only convictions, in the early ’70s, were for possessing explosives and ammunition and for belonging to the outlawed I.R.A.

But in his 40s he evolved into a peacemaker and politician. He was chief negotiator for Sinn Fein, the political arm of the I.R.A., in a complex Good Friday Agreement in 1998, in which Britain, Ireland and the political parties of Northern Ireland created a framework for power-sharing in Belfast and for eventual resolution of issues like sovereignty, civil rights, disarmament, justice and policing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/world/europe/martin-mcguinness-northern-ireland-ira.html



http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/martin-mcguinness-death-thousands-pay-tribute-to-sinn-fein-veteran-in-west-belfast-candlelight-vigil-35553585.html

Martin Ingram, co-author of "Stakeknife: Britain's secret agents in Ireland" and Kevin Fulton, author of "Unsung Hero" join Alex Jones to talk about British state involvement in IRA/loyalist atrocities for decades during the troubles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6LK43SO_vQ

http://1916.nd.edu/1916-the-irish-rebellion/

The wife of an IRA informer has launched a High Court bid for permission to sue a man alleged to have been the highest-ranking British agent within the Provisionals.

Lawyers for Margaret Keeley want to be allowed to name west Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci as a co-defendant in her damages claim against the Chief Constable.

Scappaticci, 64, denies allegations that he was the military spy codenamed Stakeknife.

Mrs Keeley, whose husband is the one-time MI5 agent known as Kevin Fulton, has issued proceedings against the police for alleged wrongful arrest and false imprisonment.

Read full article »»

British Army officers subjected prisoners in Northern Ireland to controversial "waterboarding" interrogation techniques during the 1970s, it has been reported.

Several Republican former prisoners have reportedly said the controversial technique was used as punishment and as well a way of extracting confessions from suspects, it was claimed.

The claims are also backed from the last man to receive a death penalty sentence in Northern Ireland, Liam Holden, who was found guilty of murdering a British soldier during the early years of the Troubles.

Read full article »»

guardian:British army 'waterboarded' suspects in 70s »»

Northern Ireland’s loyalist paramilitary groups, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commando have announced that their weapons and explosives have been put "totally and irreversibly beyond use". It has also been reported that the Ulster Defence Association has confirmed that it has also commenced decommissioning its weapons arsenal. NI Secretary Shaun Woodward described the event as "an historic day for Northern Ireland".

Read full article »»

Rebels Yell »» A frank and critical analysis of the Northern Ireland political process from an Irish Republican perspective.