Denis Donaldson's family urge inquiry into killing and ‘who may have pulled the strings'

Irish Times

3 days ago

The State's efforts to investigate the murder of
Denis Donaldson
in Glenties, Co Donegal, in 2006, are 'simply not working' and a statutory inquiry is needed, a spokesman for the family has said.
The Donaldsons want a cross-Border process that would identify not just 'who pulled the trigger' but also 'who may have pulled the strings,' said family solicitor Enda McGarrity.
Donaldson was a former IRA member who worked in the Sinn Féin Stormont offices. He was shot dead in April 2006 after public disclosure in December 2005 that he had been an informer for 20 years for MI5 and the Police Service of Northern Ireland Special Branch.
Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams last week won a defamation case against the BBC arising from a programme where an anonymous man was quoted as saying the IRA murdered Donaldson and that Mr Adams would have sanctioned the killing, a claim Mr Adams denied.
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The killing occurred nine months after the IRA issued a public statement saying it had instructed its members to cease violent activity and henceforth only engage in peaceful political activity.
The Garda investigation into Donaldson's death is ongoing. A coroner's inquest has been adjourned repeatedly because of the ongoing inquiry.
The family wants a statutory inquiry with a cross-Border element because they are concerned about not just who killed Donaldson but also why he was not better protected after it had become known he was an informer, said Mr McGarrity.
'At present, as far as the family are aware, the Garda are focused on the individual or individuals who pulled the trigger and not the broader circumstances around who may have pulled the strings. And that is an issue that is inextricably linked to the murder of Denis Donaldson,' he said.
The family is concerned about how Donaldson came to be exposed as an agent and the 'divergence' in what happened to him thereafter, when compared with other well-known state agents, he said.
'The family would say Denis Donaldson was thrown to the wolves while Stakeknife was shepherded away,' said Mr McGarrity, referring to the late Fred Scappaticci, a senior IRA member who was moved to Britain after he was exposed as an informer.
'The precise format of how the death and circumstances surrounding the death of Denis Donaldson are to be investigated is up for debate and discussion. What the family are saying is that the current status quo, the Garda investigation and the coroner's inquest, are simply not working,' he said.
The State, he said, has a statutory duty to investigate the death and suggested that a statutory inquiry in this jurisdiction could have cross-Border engagement to 'fill any holes' in terms of investigating the circumstances surrounding the murder.
Mr McGarrity said the family considers a claim of responsibility made by the so-called Real IRA three years after the murder to be opportunistic and unreliable, and that they had an open mind as to who carried out the murder.
Donaldson admitted to Sinn Féin in 2005 that he had been acting as an informer after charges against him and several others for having material that could be of use to terrorists were dropped. The charges arose from a police inquiry into intelligence gathering in Belfast by the IRA.
The Garda Press Office, in a statement, said their investigation into the murder was ongoing and asked that anyone with information get in contact with the station in Glenties, or with any Garda station.
In a statement, the Department of Justice said: 'Inquiries and/or investigations related to the death of Mr Donaldson have been undertaken both in this jurisdiction and in Northern Ireland.
'With regard to the criminal investigation, the Garda authorities are conducting an ongoing investigation into the killing of Mr Donaldson. Extensive inquiries have been carried out in this regard. That investigation is open and active. The inquest into the death currently stands adjourned to ensure that the criminal proceedings are not compromised by the conduct of an inquest.'