Free Republic

More than 120 uniformed gardaí in specialist units in the Republic will be permanently armed from today as part of a crackdown on criminal gangs and dissident terrorists. This is the first time that uniformed gardaí have been given permission to carry guns full-time since the foundation of the force almost a century ago. […] An increase in gun violence has partly prompted the decision to turn the units into permanently-armed squads. …

Newly-released documents have revealed the UK's "special relationship" with the US was under strain at the height of the Northern Ireland Troubles. The National Archives files show the murder of Lord Mountbatten by the IRA in 1979 did not prompt the response from the US that the UK had hoped for. While president Jimmy Carter expressed his "profound sadness" at the death, he made no reference to terrorism. Downing St privately said his failure to condemn the IRA was a "deficiency". The murder of Lord Mountbatten by the IRA on 27 August 1979 sparked shock and anger around the world....

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...

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...

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...

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...

Comment: Rod Liddle: Al-Qaeda is more honest than Gerry Adams It’s good to have the old murderous Provos back in the headlines, isn’t it? Al-Qaeda may, of late, have rather stolen their thunder but the crisis in the peace talks shows that there’s plenty of life left in the old dogs of the IRA. Of course, if you live in Belfast, and especially if you live in the nationalist areas of Belfast, they haven’t really been out of the headlines at all. You could be forgiven for wondering what on earth was all this fuss about the Islamo-fascist terrorist menace....