Gerry Adams' driver exposed as spy for MI5

Crusader74

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By David Sharrock
Saturday February 09 2008
Sinn Fein was rocked last night after it was revealed that the official driver for Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness was an MI5 spy.

Roy McShane was said to have fled his home in west Belfast yesterday, apparently under the protection of the security services.
It was the second major spying blow to hit the party in the past two years.
The news was broken by Sinn Fein, which admitted Mr McShane had worked for the British intelligence services for a number of years.

Police refused to comment on the disclosure, which will be deeply embarrassing for Sinn Fein president Mr Adams, after the sensational revelation two years ago that one of his closest aides had also worked for MI5.
Denis Donaldson (56), who headed Sinn Fein's support team at Stormont, was later shot dead near Glenties, Co Donegal.
Mr Donaldson served a sentence for an IRA bombing and later was instrumental in the Republican movement's contacts with Middle Eastern groups.

Mr McShane, ironically known as 'Roy the Rat', was a former IRA man from the Clonard area of Belfast's lower Falls.
He was a driver for senior republicans, including around the time of the developing peace process which led to the signing of the Good Friday agreement 10 years ago. Even though he would have been considered no more than a rank-and-file republican -- he was described last night by former associates as a "working-class foot soldier" -- he would have been privy to highly sensitive information as he ferried senior republicans back and forward to Castle Buildings, where the negotiations took place.

A small, grey-haired man who was a popular figure, he would sometimes chat to reporters at the margins of the negotiations, revealing his fondness for golf.
He was on first-name terms with all Sinn Fein leading members, including Martin McGuinness, now deputy First Minister in the Assembly.
Sinn Fein was playing down Mr McShane's importance last night, saying it had suspected him for some time and taken action to sideline him.

But there is no doubt that it will be a heavy blow to the party, since those in positions of confidence close to the leadership would have been regarded as entirely trustworthy.
At a recent closed meeting of a committee looking at ways to address the legacy of violence, the extent of the penetration of the republican movement by informers was revealed when it was stated that the intelligence services had 10 filing cabinets stuffed with details of their agents.

Although Donaldson was shot five months after he admitted working as a double-agent, republicans said Mr McShane had nothing to fear if he returned home. They claimed that he had been under suspicion for a number of years.
Alex Maskey, a Sinn Fein Assembly member, said he had been advised by Mr McShane's family on Thursday.
"Rumours were on the go and he confirmed to them it was the case. We did have our suspicions about him.
"We didn't have specific evidence but that's why he was sidelined.

"As far as I'm concerned he's safe. Let's face it, the war's over.
"His family's quite distressed and it's up to this man to make his peace with them."
However, a former friend of Mr McShane on the Falls Road claimed the spy "will never be able to show his face around here again".
Mr McShane would have worked closely with the Sinn Fein team of bodyguards, some of whom carried guns, who protected Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness, and would have been one of MI5's top informers.
- David Sharrock
 
*Teenage Girl Voice* "Awkward!" >:{

Wow. That had to be a real kick in the pants for Sinn Fein...I imagine that most of the details of MI5's infiltration will not be known to the public well beyond the span of my lifetime...
 
*Teenage Girl Voice* "Awkward!" >:{

Wow. That had to be a real kick in the pants for Sinn Fein...I imagine that most of the details of MI5's infiltration will not be known to the public well beyond the span of my lifetime...

Think their kinda used to this since this aint the first time..
 
Think their kinda used to this since this aint the first time..
Oh absolutely. My thought was more along the lines of the general course of MI5's infiltration and its overall impact on the Republicans...
 
Oh absolutely. My thought was more along the lines of the general course of MI5's infiltration and its overall impact on the Republicans...


The last time this happened the "informer" was spirited away and hid in a corner of Co Donegal in a little cottage with no electricity.

They Found him and blew his head off with a sawn of shotgun.

as to your witness protection program, yes they do. and maybe they learned from the last time and will get this fella out of the Country this time. IMO he won't be safe, even though he was told he won't be harmed.
 
On a related note...

Man behind McCartney killing possible informer
Sunday Independent 25/12/2005
JIM CUSACK

THE man who ordered Robert McCartney's murder last January is now believed to be yet another of the high-ranking agents recruited by the RUC some time in the Eighties and later handed on to the British Intelligence services.

Sources close to the IRA, which is now terming itself the Republican Movement, say both the military and political wings of the organisation are in disarray and waiting for more revelations that senior figures were in the pay of police on both sides of the Border. According to one security source, as many as 15 figures, including some who have since become prominent in Sinn Fein, were informers.

The McCartney sisters have claimed that the man who ordered their brother's murder is due to emigrate from Belfast and they believe he is intending to be resettled in the US. The American authorities would have to have agreement with the British Government as the man has a prison record for explosive offences dating from the Seventies and would not otherwise beallowed into the country.

His disappearance would save both the Republican Movement and the British authorities further embarrassing revelations.

The McCartney sisters spoke about the man, who is not facing any charges, in a lengthy interview on BBC Newsnight on Thursday. They did not suggest that he was a suspected informer.

Catherine said: "The person who we believe ordered it is high up in the IRA. It's all to protect him. This person is bigger than the IRA, he's bigger than the whole movement." Paula added: "He's being allowed to be bigger than the whole movement."

The sisters spoke of how the family continued to be intimidated. Paula was forced to move her family out of the Short Strand area because she feared her children would be targeted. Catherine has also moved house from Castlewellan, Co Down.

Robert's fiance, Bridgeen Hagans, also left her home in the Short Strand after receiving threats and having had a picket of local Sinn Fein women placed outside her house. She is with her parents in west Belfast while waiting to move to a new home in the northern suburbs of Belfast.
 
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