Murder of Denis Donaldson

Murder of Denis Donaldson - Sinn Fein points finger at British
Barry McCaffrey
6 April 2006
The Irish News
The identity of Denis Donaldson's killers and the reason for his brutal murder last night remained a mystery. It has been speculated that republicans murdered the self-admitted British agent in revenge, although an IRA statement on Tuesday night claimed it was not involved while Sinn Fein leaders appeared to point the finger of suspicion at British intelligence.British involvement in murder in the Republic can be traced back to May 1974 when the UVF exploded three car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, killing 33 people and injuring dozens of others.
It was the biggest mass murder in the history of the state with no-one ever charged with the bombings. Three former security force members, Fred Holroyd, Colin Wallace and John Weir later allege British army and Special Branch collusion in the bombings.

Holroyd further alleged British army involvement in the January 1975 murder of IRA man John Green who was shot dead at a friend's farmhouse near Castleblayney in Co Monaghan.

SAS man Robert Nairac was alleged to have been involved in the killing.

In March 1974 two English brothers said that they had been sent to work as British spies against the IRA in the Republic.

The claim was made when brothers Kenneth and Keith Littlejohn were jailed for the largest armed robbery in the history of the state. The Littlejohns claimed they had been told to stage the robbery to discredit the IRA and force the Irish government to introduce tougher measures against republicans. The British government denied all knowledge of the brothers. They later escaped from Mountjoy prison.

In March 1976 the SAS was blamed for abducting IRA man Sean MacKenna from his home in the Republic and handing him over to British soldiers at the border. However, there are also suspicions that republicans, mainstream or dissidents, were responsible for Mr Donaldson's murder.

In June 1999 the IRA was blamed for a gun attack on Special Branch informer Martin McGartland at his home in Whitley Bay, Northumbria in the north of England. McGartland had been uncovered by the IRA as working for the Special Branch between 1988 to 1991.

Personal vendettas have also accounted for a number of republican murders.

In January 1987 Mary McGlinchey was shot dead at her home in Dundalk by unknown gunmen. Seven years later her husband Dominic McGlinchey was shot dead at a telephone kiosk in Dundalk. The husband and wife had been leading members of the INLA. Both murders are believed to have been revenge for the murder of a south Armagh man in the early 1980s.

In June 2004 the INLA was suspected of murdering Kevin McAlorum as he dropped his child of at school on the edge of west Belfast. The 31-year-old had previously been blamed for the murder of former INLA leader Gino Gallagher in January 1996 as part of an internal feud.

In January 2005 the body of Armagh man Gareth O'Connor was found in his submerged car in Newry Canal.
The 24-year-old had been missing since May 2003 while en-route to Dundalk Garda Station where he was due to sign on as part of bail conditions. He had been on bail on charges of Real IRA membership. The Real IRA was later suspected of Mr O'Connor's murder after it emerged that he had been working as a Special Branch informer.

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