26 August 2010
The Irish News
Barry McCaffrey
A Donegal coroner is expected to rule today on whether an inquest into the murder of MI5 agent Denis Donaldson can open - more than four years after he was shot dead.
The 56-year-old was killed by the Real IRA in April 2006 at an isolated cottage at Doochary, Co Donegal, four months after publicly admitting that he had been a British spy inside Sinn Fein for more than 20 years.
Donaldson, who had previously been implicated in an IRA spy ring at Stormont, died after being hit by two shotgun blasts as he tried to flee from the early morning attack.
However, the inquest into his death has been postponed four times on the request of Garda detectives because of ongoing investigations into the killing.
In February gardai asked for a nine-month adjournment claiming investigations were very "technical in detail" with other "avenues" needing to be pursued.
That evidence is believed to have been linked to information from Donegal man Liam McGinley who is understood to have supplied gardai with details about the Donaldson murder, including the identity of the killers, and the location of a sledgehammer used in the attack.
McGinley, from the Falcarragh area of Donegal, was reported to have been taken into protective custody and begun co-operating with gardai after he was shot and left for dead by the Real IRA in November 2007.
When he appeared at Letterkenny District Court three months later he was surrounded by armed gardai.
He was sentenced to six months in prison for theft and public order offences.
However, his solicitor claimed that sending McGinley to prison would be "tantamount to a death sentence" adding his life would be at risk if he was placed with the general prison population. He subsequently received a further three-year sentence in February this year after being convicted of robbery.
The Republic's prison service was yesterday unable to say where McGinley is being held.
Garda sources claim that a file is with the Republic's prosecution service to decide if McGinley would be a credible witness.
It is understood gardai will ask for another delay in the inquest, possibly up to a year, when the preliminary hearing reopens today.
In February the Donaldson family's solicitor Ciaran Shiels warned that they would not be prepared to accept any further delay in opening the inquest. At that hearing Donegal coroner Dr Denis McCauley agreed to adjourn the inquest for a further six months, until August 26.
However, Dr McCauley told gardai that they would "have to have a very good reason" why he should not name a date for the opening of the inquest.
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