ADAMS DENIES DONALDSON CLAIM
THE family of Denis Donaldson, who was murdered after he confessed to being a British agent, have said they do not believe the Provisional IRA murdered him or that his shooting was sanctioned by Louth TD Gerry Adams.
Ciaran Shiels, a lawyer for the family, met Garda Deputy Assistant Commissioner Derek Byrne and senior police officers in Belfast on Friday, three days after the BBC Spotlight programme aired an allegation from an anonymous ‘British agent inside the IRA’ who claimed that the Sinn Fein president sanctioned the 55-year-old’s killing ten years ago.
Mr Adams said he ‘specifically and categorically’ denied the allegation levelled in the documentary that he approved the killing of Denis Donaldson.
Mr Donaldson (55), a Sinn Fein official and colleague of Mr Adams, was shot dead at an isolated cottage near Glenties in County Donegal in April 2006 following his exposure as a British spy.
Mr Adams, who said he would have no issue speaking to police to reiterate his denial, said he was consulting with his lawyer about potential legal action against the BBC, who said it stands by the story.
Mr Adams said: ‘ That the BBC would broadcast unsubstantiated allegations from an anonymous person, a self-confessed agent, about me, I think is very, very low journalism indeed. If my legal advisers give me the type of guidance that I require I will sue them. I’m not reluctant to sue’.
Responding to the claim as he attended the National Ploughing Championships, Mr Adams accused ‘elements within the British system’ of trying to undermine him and his party.
‘We have to look at what’s behind this agenda. The person who made this allegation - an anonymous, unnamed, self-professed agent of the British state. So whose agenda is that serving? This is an attempt to rewrite history.
‘ There are elements within the British system who will never be reconciled with the fact that we have got a peace process and that Sinn Fein are in the leadership of that process, along with others’.
Mr Shiels, the Donaldsons’ lawyer, told BBC NI last week that the officers had provided an update on progress in their investigation.
He said: ‘ The one theme that has come out of Friday’s meeting is that the theory that was being advanced by BBC Spotlight earlier this week - that this was in some way carried out by the Provisional IRA or authorised by Gerry Adams - I think that it’s absolute nonsense.
‘It does not marry in any way with the lines of inquiry progressed by the guards (Garda) or by the (police) ombudsman’.
Gardai investigating the murder have already ruled out any involvement by mainstream republicans.
Intelligence gathered by the PSNI has also ruled out Provisional IRA involvement.
This information was passed to Gardai investigating the case, who have always focused on dissidents.
A reliable security source in Northern Ireland told the Belfast Telegraph there was surprise the BBC Spotlight programme made the allegation.
‘No one, and I mean no one, on either side of the border believes this claim has an ounce of truth in it. The guards say it’s nonsense and the PSNI believe the same. The so-called Real IRA did this’, the source claimed.
Mr Donaldson was killed by a shotgun blast in April 2006 as he opened the door to his remote Donegal cottage. He was in hiding after being outed as a British agent of nearly 20 years. The Real IRA claimed responsibility for the murder in 2009 but the circumstances surrounding Mr Donaldson’s outing as a British agent and subsequent murder in April 2006 have long been shrouded in mystery.
A spokeswoman for the BBC said: ‘ The BBC stands by its journalism’.