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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...

He is not a criminal, says Adams Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams yesterday stood by alleged former IRA chief Thomas "Slab" Murphy. The businessman, whose farm is at the centre of a police probe into a multi-million pound smuggling operation, has been wrongly demonised, he claimed. Mr Adams said: "Tom Murphy is not a criminal. He is a good republican." Murphy's sprawling estate, straddling the Irish border, was among 15 properties searched yesterday during police raids planned in Belfast and Dublin. Around £200,000 in cash, 30,000 cigarettes, 8,000 litres of fuel and weapons were all seized in the offensive against...

Higgins Outraged When Sinn Fein Leader Stopped By Terrorist Watch List Mar 18, 2006 - A St. Patricks day crowd in South Buffalo didn’t get to hear the star attraction…he was detained in Washington after turning up on a terrorist watch list. Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein was detained at Reagan National Airport. Sinn Fein is the political arm of the Irish Republican Army. Congressman Brian Higgins broke the news to hundreds of people celebrating the holiday at the Irish Center in South Buffalo. “We got a call tonight that Gerry Adams is being detained in Washington for in...

Police raid farm of IRA 'chief of staff' By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent (Filed: 10/03/2006) The farm owned by the man suspected of being the Provisional IRA's chief of staff was raided yesterday in the largest police operation mounted against suspected organised crime on the Irish border. Thomas "Slab" Murphy's property, which is alleged to be at the heart of the IRA's smuggling empire, was among those searched by police, soldiers and customs officials. Fuel tankers were driven from Murphy's farm after the raid More than 300 British and Irish police officers carried out raids simultaneously on both sides of...

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - Several hundred Irish Republican army supporters attacked police on Dublin's central boulevard and near the parliament building Saturday to prevent an unprecedented parade by Northern Ireland Protestants. In riotous scenes rarely seen in the Republic of Ireland, protesters hurled bottles, bricks and fireworks, at police as they tried to clear the hostile crowd from O'Connell Street. The Garda Siochana, Ireland's national police force, said 14 people - six officers, seven protesters and a journalist - were hospitalized, mostly with head wounds. More than a dozen other people suffered less serious injuries. The police advised shoppers and...

When Palestinians revealed their true colors electing Hamas to 74 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, the Arab world was dumb-struck. An Islamist terror group had finally snatched power from the ruling old guard and woke up the world to a new Middle East reality. But does Hamas' victory really represent the decisive shift where Palestinian politics began going down-hill? Historians and students of current affairs often compare the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to that between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republican Army (IRA), in which an organization claiming to represent Catholics took up arms against Irish Protestants and the British. For...

Gerry Adams will face a barrage of criticism here next month over the alleged IRA murder of Dubliner Joe Rafferty. Senior political figures have indicated that Sinn Fein is at its lowest ebb in the US in the light of ongoing accusations of IRA criminality. Congressmen and senators who met Mr Rafferty's family in Washington DC this week are appalled at the stance of Sinn Fein and determined to put the party under pressure during Mr Adams' visit. The recent campaign tour of the Rafferty family and the publication of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report has further tarnished the...

The Garda Commissioner, Noel Conroy, has said no link has been established between last night's pipe bomb attack and another bomb that exploded near in Coolock two days ago. The Garda Technical Bureau has spent the day examining the scene of last night's explosion in the driveway of a house. The device was placed under a car parked in the driveway of a house on Roseglen Avenue in Kilbarrack exploded. The spare wheel of the Renault Clio bore the brunt of the explosion, which seriously damaged the car and also blew in the front window on the ground floor of...

US PRESIDENT George Bush's special envoy to Ireland is to meet the family of a Dublin man who they say was murdered by republicans. Ambassador Mitchell Reiss said yesterday that there were a number of "serious concerns" about the killing in April last year of Joseph Rafferty and similarities with the death of Robert McCartney who was killed by the IRA. The 29-year-old was murdered after leaving his home near Clonsilla in west Dublin after what that family said was a long running row with republicans. He was shot twice by a gunman disguised as a construction worker as he...

IRA in link to £70m property empire Garda specialist units seize documents in series of raids By Tom Brady 01 February 2006 An IRA link to a massive £70m-plus property empire in the Republic is being investigated by several Garda specialist units. A series of raids on businesses, houses and the offices of professional advisers has been carried out in four counties in the past week. A huge dossier of documentation, seized in the searches which began a week ago and ended yesterday, will now be analysed to establish if any of the businesses were used to launder IRA monies....

The Independent Monitoring Commission is due to hand its latest report on paramilitary activity to the British and Irish Governments later today. Ahead of the public disclosure of the contents of the report on Wednesday, NIO Minister Shaun Woodward said that he had "absolute confidence" in the Commission. However, Sinn Fein Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness said that he did not consider the IMC to be an independent body. The report is likely to reflect favourably on the lack of Republican paramilitary activity, but may also reflect the PSNI's expressed view that paramilitaries are involved in organised crime. Set up in...

Unionists today demanded a public inquiry after Sinn Féin expelled a senior party official who had admitted working as a British spy. Denis Donaldson, Sinn Féin’s former head of administration at Stormont, owned up to working for British intelligence and the Police Service of Northern Ireland/Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch for more than 20 years. The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) said a public inquiry was now essential to explain the bizarre events, which unfolded just a week after the dropping of charges against Mr Donaldson and two other men accused of being part of a republican spy ring at Stormont...

A veteran Sinn Fein figure expelled from the party today has said he was a British agent for two decades. Denis Donaldson headed the party's administration office at Stormont before his October 2002 arrest over an alleged spy ring led to its collapse. Mr Donaldson said he was recruited in the 1980s as a paid agent and deeply regretted his activities. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams claimed he was about to be "outed" by the same "securocrats" who set him up as a spy. Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive collapsed in October 2002 following the arrests of three men, who had...

The director of the Centre for Public Inquiry today accused Minister for Justice Michael McDowell of joining a witch hunt against him, over claims he was connected to an IRA plot to sell information to Farc guerrillas. Frank Connolly denied he had travelled to Colombia using a false passport, and said the allegations were made to detract from the centre’s independent inquiries on Trim Castle and the Corrib Gas project. Mr McDowell last night accused Mr Connolly of being linked to the IRA scheme to provide Colombian terrorists with bomb-making information in return for cash. In a written reply to...

A man has appeared before a sitting of the Special Criminal Court in connection with the discovery of a bomb in a car at the Westlink toll bridge in Dublin. Martin O'Rourke, 22, of Sheepmore Grove, Blanchardstown has been remanded in custody. Another 56-year-old man who was arrested in connection with the bomb find is still being detained at Clondalkin garda station. The bomb was discovered in a car on the M50 in Dublin on Thursday night. It is believed it was primed for use. Detectives are working on the possibility that the find may be linked to a vigilante...

Closely watched by two police forces, the quiet farmer who calmly looks after the IRA's millions By David McKittrick 07 October 2005 Thomas "Slab" Murphy, the IRA leader suspected of having millions of pounds invested in property in Manchester, has for most of his republican career led a charmed life. He has never been convicted of any offence, despite the fact that for more than two decades every Northern Ireland secretary, every chief constable and every general has spent long hours pondering how to put him behind bars. In his home area of South Armagh and further afield, everyone knows...

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...

US congressman Peter King - who is dedicated to Irish-American affairs - has said he is certain that a statement from the IRA will be issued very soon. Mr King said he believes it will be extremely positive and a dramatic turning point in Irish history. Earlier, the Taoiseach said he believes we are within days of seeing an enormous change in the situation in Northern Ireland. Speaking in Galway, Bertie Ahern said he was hopeful that within the next 24 or 36 hours significant progress would be made towards full and final IRA decommissioning. He said he was not...

Last Sunday I caught the 2pm from Sligo, in the west of Ireland, cross country to Dublin. As the train began to jolt and groan its way east, I wandered off in search of a seat, but in each group of four there was one person, sitting tight, defending the space: women with prim, permed hair; old men; Germans in shorts. At last I found an empty four and settled. Collooney came and went, as did Ballymote and Boyle. At Carrick on Shannon, a man and woman slid into the seats opposite me. Drat. The woman put a plastic bag...