The Irish News
Allison Morris
A former IRA prisoner has said "spurious allegations" being circulated claiming he is a police informer are part of an orchestrated, politically led campaign to discredit him. Veteran republican Tony Catney was responding to an anonymous letter, claiming to be from a former Special Branch member, which was circulated to media outlets earlier this week. The letter names several individuals it claims are working for the intelligence agencies. Among them is Mr Catney, a life-sentence prisoner who served a 16-year jail term.
It also claims recent dissident attacks which could have been prevented were not in order to protect dissident republican informants. The west Belfast man said he believes his character has been called into question since he parted ways with Sinn Fein over disagreements on political direction. He is a member of republican pressure group Republican Network for Unity (RNU) which has a number of former members of Sinn Fein in its ranks.
A letter, purporting to be from a retired RUC officer and naming three republicans and three loyalists, was widely circulated to media outlets on both sides of the border this week. Loyalists named in the letter would already be publicly known as informers. Among them Stoneyford loyalist Mark Harbinson, who is in prison facing child abuse allegations and Mount Vernon UVF man and Special Branch informer Mark Haddock.
Speaking yesterday Mr Catney blamed mainstream republicans. "This is a very amateur attempt to smear my character and call into question my republican credentials," he said. "My character is being smeared without any effort to verify the accuracy of this dubious unnamed source. "To those erstwhile republicans who peddle such gossip, I suggest they question where this so-called 'evidence' originated and take a long hard look at what they have become."
Another member of RNU named in the anonymous letter is Mairtin Og Meehan, son of the late Ardoyne IRA commander Martin Meehan. Mr Meehan said yesterday that the allegations against him are "ludicrous" and "totally without foundation". "This sort of mud-slinging is putting people's lives in danger for what comes down to a dirty tricks campaign," he said.
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