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Denis Donaldson was expelled from Sinn Fein in December Mr Donaldson was expelled from the party last December after admitting he was a paid British spy for 20 years. The IRA issued a statement saying it had "no involvement whatsoever" in Mr Donaldson's death in County Donegal. Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern described the death as a "brutal murder", while NI Secretary Peter Hain said it was "barbaric". Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said he wanted to "disassociate (his party) and all republicans who support the peace process from this killing". The death of Mr Donaldson came hours before a...

DUBLIN, Republic of Ireland (AP) -- A former senior official of Sinn Fein recently exposed as a British spy has been found fatally shot in northwest Ireland, police said Tuesday -- an act certain to send shock waves through Northern Ireland's peace process at a critical moment. Denis Donaldson, Sinn Fein's former legislative chief in the failed power-sharing government of Northern Ireland, admitted in December he had been on the payroll of the British secret service and the province's anti-terrorist police for the previous two decades. He then went into hiding -- because the traditional Irish Republican Army punishment for...

The three Irishmen in hiding after being sentenced to 17 years in prison for training Farc rebels in Colombia have returned to Ireland and insisted they are not on the run. Martin McAuley, Niall Connolly and Jim Monaghan have been on the run since a Bogota court overturned their original acquittal in December. A Government spokesman has been quoted as saying the Government had no prior knowledge of the men's return. "This issue was not part of the Government's discussions with Sinn Fein and we had no prior knowledge of their return to Ireland," a spokesperson said. The Department of...

Sinn Fein, the most powerful Catholic party in Northern Ireland, said it was steeling itself for a "confrontation" with British Prime Minister Tony Blair following recent rows that have imperiled the peace process in the province. "I think it is very fair to say that there is a very deep sense of crisis in the peace process at this time," Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams told reporters in London a day before a meeting with Blair. Efforts to resolve Northern Ireland's political deadlock, which nearly succeeded in talks before Christmas, have been badly hit by a massive bank robbery last...