Dissident threat - Continuity IRA left reeling over high-level informer

Dissident threat - Continuity IRA left reeling over high-level informer

16 October 2010
The Irish News
Barry McCaffrey


The Continuity IRA has been left reeling after a leading member was taken into Garda protective custody after it emerged that he was a high-level informer.

Garda Special Branch officers are understood to have brought the Co Donegal man into a protection scheme after the CIRA suspected him of tipping off the security forces about plans to kill a Catholic police recruit in Co Fermanagh last November.

Dissident chiefs are believed to have launched a hunt for an informer within their ranks after two of its most senior members were arrested and later charged in the well-planned security force ambush.

Security sources confirmed that the Ballyshannon man and his family are in protective custody.

There is growing speculation that the move may be linked to the discovery of a number of arms dumps in the Republic in recent weeks.  It is understood that the 38-year-old first agreed to begin working for Garda Special Branch while he was awaiting trial on serious fraud charges last year.  When he appeared in court he admitted charges of defrauding a finance company over hire purchase agreements.  However, the case was unexpectedly adjourned to allow him to repay the money.

Dissident sources last night said that the man came under suspicion shortly after a security force ambush in Garrison last year.

Irish army reserve soldier Gerard James McManus, from Fern Hill in Letterkenny, was arrested hiding in a shed in the village after a gun battle with undercover police who had been hiding in the home of the Catholic police trainee.

During questioning Mr McManus said he had only opened fire after being shot at by police.  He said that he had aimed his gun away from police and had not intended to kill.

Kevin Barry Nolan (32) from Main Street, Blacklion in Co Cavan, was arrested after undercover police rammed a getaway car he was driving.  The 32-year-old had previously stood as an independent republican candidate in council elections in Co Fermanagh in 2005.

In March it emerged that Tyrone man Martin Kelly had been taken into protective custody in the Republic and had agreed to co-operate with detectives investigating the dissident murder of Strabane man Andrew Burns in 2008.

In November 2007 Letterkenny man Liam McGinley was taken into protective custody after passing on information to gardai about the Real IRA murder of Sinn Fein administrator turned MI5 agent Denis Donaldson.

McGinley is reported to have identified the killers to gardai and to have passed on information which led to the recovery of a sledgehammer that the Real IRA gang had used to break down the door of Mr Donaldson's cottage in Co Donegal in April 2006 before killing him.

Mr McGinley is understood to have agreed to cooperate after having been abducted and shot by the Real IRA in November 2007.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2010, CIRA, Co. Donegal, Denis Donaldson, Liam McGinley, protective custody, Real IRA, sledgehammer

The family can't move on until the truth is told

The family can't move on until the truth is told
23 July 2010
Belfast Telegraph

The lucid memory of that horrific episode, however, lives with him every day, emboldening a relentless, painstaking search for the truth about who was really behind it.

John Finucane, now an established Belfast solicitor himself, is certain that the security forces colluded with loyalists for an assassination he believes was condoned -- even sanctioned -- by the Government.

An outrageous suggestion some might think, but an hour in the company of this 30-year-old criminal lawyer and human rights activist may well cloud the most cynical minds in doubt.

"Through the very nature of his work in those days, my father was proving to be a thorn in the establishment's side," John says.

"He was taking on the British establishment -- with their own laws, through their own courts. He was good at it too, and I don't think they liked that. Quite simply, they killed him because he was effective at his job."

He adds: "My father was looking into unlawful detentions and killings by the security forces. He was one of a select few prepared to do the work."

That work was ended, abruptly and mercilessly, when Pat Finucane, then 39, was shot 14 times by loyalist paramilitary Ken Barrett and another man. Barrett, a UDA informer, finally pleaded guilty to the murder in 2004.

Pat Finucane had been representing well known IRA man Pat 'Beag' McGeown, a suspect in the notorious, brutal and all-too-public murders of two Army corporals in Andersonstown in March 1988. Pictures of Mr Finucane outside Belfast's Crumlin Road Courthouse with his client appeared in the Press. The UDA/UFF said they killed him because he was an "IRA officer" -- although no evidence has ever emerged to support this claim.

Pat Finucane did, however, have well established republican roots. Three brothers -- John, Dermot and Seamus -- were in the Provisional IRA. John was killed 'on active service' in 1972, Dermot was one of the 38 Maze escapees in 1983 and Seamus was a Provo colleague of Bobby Sands (later a client of Pat's); the pair were arrested attempting to destroy a Belfast property store in 1976.

Pat Finucane's son does not believe his father was merely paying for the sins of his siblings; his representation of high-profile paramilitaries is a more plausible 'justification.'

"My father represented loyalists and republicans," he says. "As a solicitor you can't refuse a case and he didn't. He got work because he was successful in challenging the police and the Government. I believe he became a hate figure for them."

John was only eight when his father was murdered in front of him, his mother Geraldine, his brother Michael (then 17) and sister Katherine (13) .

"It was around 7pm," he remembers. "There was a loud bang at the front door and before anybody had time to react my father was killed in front of us in the kitchen.

"We were literally in the middle of our dinner. They suspected the people who did this had done it before because every shot that was fired hit my father. It was particularly brutal in nature."

In 1999, the Metropolitan Police Chief Sir John Stevens, who had already been investigating collusion allegations in Northern Ireland for a decade, launched a specific inquiry into Mr Finucane's murder.

Arising from that investigation, RUC Special Branch agent and loyalist quartermaster William Stobie was charged with supplying one of the pistols used in the murder. He admitted the offence, but denied knowing who the target was. He also argued he'd warned his handlers a shooting was imminent.

The Stobie case collapsed in November 2001; he was shot dead by loyalists outside his own home shortly afterwards.

But John's focus is not on the paramilitaries involved.

"They were merely sent out to do a job," he says. "The main question is: who sent them out, and why? Loyalists have since gone on the record to say that they were told by the RUC to target my father.

"Why did the Government feel they could get a solicitor murdered in their own jurisdiction?

"Why did they have a policy where many other people were killed?

"If this was just about the murder of my father I don't think it would have gathered as much momentum or attracted as much attention as it has. This was a policy that affected many, many people."

He adds: "We know it was Brian Nelson (the loyalist and Army double agent) who provided the intelligence and who had helped set the murder up."

Army officers interviewed by the Stevens team denied any knowledge of a high-level plot but that isn't the source of frustration for the victim's family.

"Prosecutions aren't an issue for us," John admits. "We aren't interested in anybody going to jail for this. The main focus for us is getting at the truth.

"And, firstly, that truth must be told in its entirety. Secondly, that truth must be acknowledged and accepted by the British Government. Thirdly, we must learn lessons from this.

"Until we know what really went on, we'll never be able to learn from it. We must send out a message that we will not tolerate that sort of behaviour from our Government, or from its various agencies."

John's father was killed just weeks after Home Office minister Douglas Hogg told the Commons a number of Ulster solicitors were "unduly sympathetic" to the IRA.

"Yes, and he has never admitted why he made that statement," says John. "We have since learned that he was briefed by senior members of the RUC and given that information to say. One of Stevens' reports says Hogg was compromised.

"The Stevens Report itself has never been published -- why's that?"

You get the impression John Finucane knows the answers already. All he wants is for the Government to own up to its perceived involvement. It could be a long wait; it has already been.

"For the last 20 years, the British Government have resisted, have fought every step of the way to cover up the truth," he says. "As a family, it makes us very suspicious as to what they're hiding."

The Finucane family (John's brother, Michael, is also a solicitor) have been promised an inquiry into Pat's murder -- and they will settle for nothing less.

Put simply, they want the powers-that-be to finally say: 'Yes, that's what happened . . . and we're so sorry it did'.

"My family aren't asking for an open-ended, costly inquiry," John says. "I think this could be dealt with very swiftly. But we need to deal with the past; we can't walk away from it. "

The Finucanes' quest for adequate closure has been backed by, among others, various US Presidents, the Irish Government and the European Parliament.

"My mother (now 60) has likened it to a sore or a cut -- if you don't treat it properly and just cover it up, it will fester below the surface and eventually come up, even more rotten than it was originally," says John.

"And something very rotten was going on at that time, something that caused not just my father's death, but many others."

Today, sitting in a busy cafe in Belfast city centre -- a Belfast thronged with young people who have never heard this story and, frankly, would have no interest in hearing it either -- John admits to occasionally wondering why he has persisted in his quest for the truth for so long.

"I was eight when this happened; I'm 30 now. For the vast majority of my life I haven't known anything else," he says.

Time, however, doesn't make dealing with such a "violent, traumatic and unforeseen death" any easier for a family man looking forward to the birth of his third child next week.

One of his boys is nearly the age John was on that fateful night back in 1989.

"My father was taken away from me. I feel I've missed out on an awful lot and I miss him as much now as I ever did," he says.

"You miss having your father. And the more I find out about who he was, the more I've missed not having that person in my life. That pain, that grief will always be there."

He adds: "No-one wants to spend their life having to talk about the murder of their father and why they want justice to be achieved, but it's where we are. We do want to put this behind us, but until the truth is told I really don't think that's possible."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2010, British Special Forces, Collusion, Douglas Hogg, Finucane, Hogg, MI5, protective custody, Royal Ulster Constabulary, Special Branch

'Dissidents in turmoil' claim

25 March 2010
The Irish News
Barry McCaffrey

Dissident republicans in Co Tyrone are said to be in 'turmoil' amid reports that a leading member has gone into Garda protective custody. Last week Strabane man Martin Kelly (35) appeared in court in the Republic charged with unlawful possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life in February 2008. The charges are linked to the murder of 27-year-old Strabane man Andrew Burns, who was shot dead by Oglaigh Na hEireann in Co Donegal two years ago.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2010, Co. Donegal, Copeland, Denis Donaldson, Informers, Ireland, Letterkenny, Liam McGinley, MI5, protective custody, PSNI, Real IRA, sledgehammer

Six-month delay for spy inquest

5 February 2010
The Irish News
Seamus McKinney

The inquest into the death of self-confessed British spy Denis Donaldson has been adjourned for a further six months. Mr Donaldson (56), was shot dead at a cottage near Glenties in west Donegal on April 4 2007. Previously a prominent Sinn Fein figure, the Belfast man had been living in the remote cottage since admitting he had been working as a British agent for many years. His murder was claimed by the Real IRA in the paramilitary organisation's annual Easter message last year.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2010, Co. Donegal, Copeland, Denis Donaldson, Informers, Letterkenny, Liam McGinley, MI5, Northern Ireland, protective custody, Real IRA, Sinn Féin, sledgehammer

New delay to spy's inquest expected

4 February 2010
The Irish News
Barry McCaffrey

An inquest into the death of murdered MI5 agent Denis Donaldson is expected to be adjourned today as gardai are due to request a fourth postponement. The 56-year-old was shot dead 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.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2010, Co. Donegal, Copeland, Denis Donaldson, Ireland, Letterkenny, Liam McGinley, MI5, protective custody, Real IRA, Sinn Féin, sledgehammer

SF man an informer for 20 years

Stormontgate - SF man an informer for 20 years
Sharon O'Neill, Brian McCaffrey and William Graham
17 December 2005
The Irish News
Sinn Fein yesterday sensationally expelled Denis Donaldson from the party for allegedly spying on republicans for the British government.

Continue Reading... Labels: British Special Forces, Denis Donaldson, Informers, IRA, Ireland, Littlejohn Brothers, MI5, Northern Ireland, protective custody, PSNI, Sinn Féin, Special Branch

Dissidents reject protective custody claims

22 April 2009
Derry Journal

Hardline republicans in Derry have rejected claims that a Real IRA man is being held in protective custody as part of the Denis Donaldson murder investigation. It was reported last week that a man from Derry is being held by the Garda as part of the ongoing investigation into the fatal shooting of the former Sinn Féin official at a remote cottage in Glenties in April 2006.

Several reports claim the man, who is believed to have led detectives to a sledgehammer used to break down the door of the cottage, was a member of the Real IRA which last week claimed responsibility for Mr. Donaldson’s murder. However, republican sources linked to the Real IRA in Derry insist the man in question has no connection with the organisation.

“He was never part of the republican movement”, the source said. The source said the claims were being used to discredit the Real IRA. “This is being put about by enemies of the republican movement and there is absolutely no truth in it.”

It had been reported that the man had been living in St Johnston but fled after being wounded in a gun attack close to his home in Transalla last year. His home was later targeted in a pipe-bomb attack, both of which were blamed on dissident republicans.

[Note: Declan Gallagher was St. Johnston victim - not Liam McGinley]

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, protective custody, Real IRA, sledgehammer, St Johnston

Londonderry informer in protective custody claim

17 April 2009
Londonderry Sentinel

A Londonderry man  has been taken into protective custody by police in the Republic, amidst speculation that he could hold vital information about the murder of former Sinn Féin apparatchik and spy Denis Donaldson, it has been claimed.

According to reports in a number of media outlets the man is a former dissident republican - turned police informant - who was subject to a number of attempts on his life at his St Johnston home last year. It has now been claimed that the man has led detectives to a sledgehammer used to break down the door of the remote Glenties cottage in which Mr Donaldson, aged 56, was shot dead in April 2006.

A garda spokesperson said that "for operational reasons" gardai were not in a position to comment on or discuss the latest revelations.

In September last year the Real IRA were blamed for an attack near the man's home at Transallagh, St Johnston, during which he received gunshot wounds. Months later a pipe bomb device attached to the oil tank of the man's house partially exploded. It has been reported that the man - an alleged former member of the Real IRA - moved from St Johnston after the attack. At a 32 County Sovereignty Movement Easter Rising commemoration in Londonderry on Monday, the Real IRA claimed it had carried out the murder of Denis Donaldson.

[ARTICLE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY EDITED AND REFERENCES TO ST JOHNSTON REMOVED]

Text of article currently online at Londonderry Sentinel website:

Londonderry Sentinel
Published on 17/04/2009 13:25

A LONDONDERRY man has been taken into protective custody by police in the Republic, amidst speculation that he could hold vital information about the murder of former Sinn Féin apparatchik and spy Denis Donaldson, it has been claimed.  According to reports in a number of media outlets the man is a former dissident republican - turned police informant.

It has now been claimed that the man has led detectives to a sledgehammer used to break down the door of the remote Glenties cottage in which Mr Donaldson, aged 56, was shot dead in April 2006.  A garda spokesperson said that "for operational reasons" gardai were not in a position to comment on or discuss the latest claims.

In September last year the Real IRA were blamed for an attack near the man's home in the Republic.  At a 32 County Sovereignty Movement Easter Rising commemoration in Londonderry on Monday, the Real IRA claimed it had carried out the murder of Denis Donaldson.

NOTE: 
The details described in the original article above referred to the Sept & Oct 2008 attacks on Declan Gallagher in St. Johnston, Donegal. Like other articles published in April 2009, it states that Gallagher led detectives to the sledgehammer used to break down the cottage door in the Donaldson murder and that he was in protective custody.

See also:

http://winnowinghistory.blogspot.com/2009/04/ex-rira-man-gives-donaldson-evidence.html
Gallagher: "...The former dissident is understood to have been taken into protective custody after leading detectives to the spot where the sledgehammer was hidden by Mr Donaldson's killers in Donegal. Gardai are understood to be hopeful of recovering forensic evidence from the sledgehammer, which is said to have been well preserved when recovered."

http://winnowinghistory.blogspot.com/2009/04/dissident-denies-key-witness-rira-link.html
Gallagher: "...survived a Real IRA murder attempt last September led gardai to a sledgehammer believed to have been used in the attack on Mr Donaldson..."

http://winnowinghistory.blogspot.com/2009/04/donaldson-informant-kept-hidden.html
Gallagher: "...is now under protective garda custody after leading investigators to the hiding place of the sledgehammer used by the killers to break down Donaldson’s cottage door. Gardai may now be able to recover forensic evidence from the sledgehammer but it could take some time and may involve experts from Britain..."

http://winnowinghistory.blogspot.com/2009/04/dissidents-reject-protective-custody.html
"...republican sources linked to the Real IRA in Derry insist the man in question has no connection with the organisation.  “He was never part of the republican movement”, the source said. The source said the claims were being used to discredit the Real IRA. “This is being put about by enemies of the republican movement and there is absolutely no truth in it.”..."

Two months later, an entirely different individual (Liam McGinley) was said to have identified Donaldson's killers, passed on information leading to the recovery of the sledgehammer used to break down the cottage door in the Donaldson murder and that he was in protective custody.

See also:

http://winnowinghistory.blogspot.com/2009/06/rira-victim-reveals-who-murdered-spy.html
McGinley:  "...wasn't present when Donaldson was murdered but has identified the killers and disclosed certain information on what happened to the weapon used in the killing,"...

http://winnowinghistory.blogspot.com/2009/06/letterkenny-man-reveals-donaldson.html
McGinley: "...is under garda protection. McGinley has revealed the identity of Real IRA figure in the northwest including the identities of the gunmen who murdered former leading Sinn Féin official and self-confessed British Spy Denis Donaldson..."

http://winnowinghistory.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-delay-to-spys-inquest-expected.html
McGinley: "...is understood to have identified the killers to detectives. He is also understood to have passed on information which led to the recovery of a sledgehammer which the killers had used to break down the door of the cottage during the attack..."

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, 32 County Sovereignty, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, protective custody, Real IRA, sledgehammer, St Johnston

Man in protective custody over spy murder claim

17 April 2009
Irish Independent

A man is in protective custody after providing crucial information which could lead to the capture of the killers of British spy Denis Donaldson. Former Sinn Fein administrator and spy, Donaldson (56) was gunned down at his remote cottage near Glenties, Co Donegal in April 2006.

Earlier this week, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the murder, which is still under garda investigation. A spokesperson said yesterday that "for operational reasons" gardai were not in a position to discuss the claims. It has since been claimed by Republican sources that the man is under protective garda custody after leading investigators to the hiding place of the sledgehammer used to break down Donaldson's door.

Gardai may now be able to recover some forensic evidence, but it could take some time. According to reports in Derry and Donegal, the man, in his 20s from Derry, had survived a number of attempts on his life. In one attack, gunmen opened fire while he was sitting in his car but he fled the scene, while a pipe bomb was left at his home a month earlier.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, protective custody, Real IRA, Sinn Féin, sledgehammer, St Johnston

Donaldson informant kept hidden

17 April 2009
Belfast Telegraph
Anita Guidera

A man was in Garda protective custody after providing crucial information which could lead to the capture of the killers of Denis Donaldson, who was shot dead in Co Donegal. Former Sinn Fein administrator and spy Donaldson (56) was gunned down at his remote cottage near Glenties in April 2006.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, 32 County Sovereignty, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, Northern Ireland, protective custody, Real IRA, Sinn Féin, sledgehammer, St Johnston

Dissident denies 'key witness' RIRA link

17 April 2009
The Irish News
Seamus McKinney

Leading dissident republican, Gary 'Donzo', has denied claims that an alleged key witness in the Denis Donaldson murder investigation was ever a member of the Real IRA. Donnelly (38), was responding to claims that a former Real IRA member has been taken into protective custody by gardai in connection with the murder of Mr Donaldson, in Co Donegal in April 2006.

A leading figure in the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, Mr Donnelly also denied claims that dissident republicans have been behind recent attacks targeting Sinn Fein members and their offices in Belfast and Derry. Last year Mr Donnelly, along with three others, spent nine months on remand in the Republic on Real IRA membership charges. He was released from custody in December when his trial collapsed.

The Irish News revealed on Wednesday that a Derry man who survived a Real IRA murder attempt last September led gardai to a sledgehammer believed to have been used in the attack on Mr Donaldson.

A former leading member of Sinn Fein, Mr Donaldson was shot dead in a cottage near Glenties shortly after admitting that he had worked for many years as a British agent. Security sources said gardai believed they could gather vital forensic evidence from the sledgehammer which, it was claimed, was used by the killers to force their way into Mr Donaldson's cottage.

They also told The Irish News that gardai were led to the sledgehammer by a man who was a former member of the Real IRA. The man, originally from Derry, survived a murder attempt at his home in Co Donegal last September. A month later, a pipe bomb caused widespread damage to his home. The shooting attack was later claimed by the Real IRA which alleged that the man had been involved in drug dealing.

On Monday, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for Mr Donaldson's murder in a statement issued at its main Easter commemoration in Derry. However, Mr Donnelly said the man identified as providing evidence to the Garda had never been a member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement or the Real IRA.

Mr Donnelly also denied Sinn Fein claims that dissident republicans were behind a series of attacks on their members in Belfast and Derry. In the latest attack, paint bombs were thrown at Sinn Fein's Connolly House and a memorial to IRA members was smashed in Belfast.

Earlier this month dissidents were blamed for similar attacks on the home of Sinn Fein assembly member Mitchel McLaughlin and the Museum of Free Derry in the city's Bogside. It was also claimed that dissident supporters were behind an arson attack on Sinn Fein's main offices in Derry at the weekend.

"Why would we destroy a memorial to IRA members?" Mr Donnelly asked. "It would be counter-productive of us to attack Sinn Fein members when we are trying to win over the Provisionals' support base."

He said recent attacks were the work of "hoods" and vandals. Mr Donnelly said this was accepted by all community leaders in nationalist and republican areas in Derry and Belfast.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, 32 County Sovereignty, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, Northern Ireland, protective custody, Real IRA, Sinn Féin, sledgehammer, St Johnston

Ex-RIRA man gives Donaldson evidence

15 April 2009
The Irish News
Barry McCaffrey

A former dissident republican was last night understood to be in police protective custody after providing the Garda with vital forensic evidence which could identify the Real IRA killers of Denis Donaldson. At the weekend the Real IRA caused widespread surprise when it claimed responsibility for murdering the former Sinn Fein administrator at an isolated cottage near Glenties, Co Donegal, in April 2006.

The Provisional IRA had previously been blamed for killing the 56-year-old after he had admitted spying for British military intelligence for more than 20 years. However, in its Easter statement the Real IRA claimed it had in fact murdered Mr Donaldson but had resisted admitting responsibility for more than three years to embarrass mainstream republicans.

It claimed it used a sledgehammer to break down the door of the cottage where Mr Donaldson, pictured, had been living alone before chasing him into a back bedroom and blasting him with a shotgun. However, security sources last night claimed the Real IRA had been forced to finally admit murdering Mr Donaldson after it emerged that one of its former members had passed on information about the killing to gardai and was now in protective custody in the Republic.

The former dissident is understood to have been taken into protective custody after leading detectives to the spot where the sledgehammer was hidden by Mr Donaldson's killers in Donegal. Gardai are understood to be hopeful of recovering forensic evidence from the sledgehammer, which is said to have been well preserved when recovered.

The revelation that the former dissident passed on vital information to the security forces comes just days after a Real IRA spokesman boasted that the Garda would never catch Mr Donaldson's killers. "We don't believe it's going anywhere," a Real IRA spokesman told The Sunday Tribune newspaper. "They haven't a clue."

In September last year the Real IRA attempted to kill the former member at a house in Co Donegal in what was claimed to be a dispute over drug dealing. A month later a pipe bomb partially exploded outside his home.

In February an inquest into Mr Donaldson's killing was postponed for a year after Detective Superintendent Eugene McGovern revealed that gardai were investigating a definite new line of inquiry which had only recently come to light. Mr McGovern refused to reveal details at that time.

A Garda spokesman last night refused to confirm or deny whether the force had taken a man into protective custody or if it had recovered the sledgehammer used in the Donaldson killing, stating that it would be inappropriate to comment on a "continuing investigation".

Continue Reading... Labels: 2009, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, protective custody, Real IRA, Sinn Féin, sledgehammer, St Johnston

Fire attack on house

30 December 2008
The Sun

A man who was shot in the neck earlier this year has now had his house BURNT to the ground. Taxi driver Declan Gallagher's Co Donegal home lay in ruins yesterday after the blaze on Sunday night. Mr Gallagher, from Derry, was blasted in the neck in September when four armed men opened fire on his car after the IRA accused him of being in a loyalist backed drugs gang..

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, protective custody, Real IRA, sledgehammer, St Johnston

New attack on house

30 December 2008
The Irish News

A house in Donegal belonging to a 26-year-old man from Derry was destroyed early yesterday in a suspicious fire - the latest in a series of attacks on the house and its occupants. A Garda spokesman last night said the incident was still being investigated. In October a pipe bomb, which was left outside the house at Transallagh near the Co Donegal border village of St Johnston, partially exploded.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, protective custody, Real IRA, St Johnston

Shot man's home blaze

30 December 2008
Mirror

Gardai were yesterday probing a fire that destroyed the home of a man who was shot by the Real IRA three months ago. There were no injuries in the blaze at Transallagh, near St Johnston, Co Donegal, shortly before midnight on Sunday. Nobody has lived in the house since its last occupant, a 26-year-old man from the Creggan area of Derry, who moved to St Johnston earlier this year, was shot in the neck on September 25. On October 10 a pipe bomb was left outside the same property.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, protective custody, Real IRA, St Johnston

Blaze guts home of gun attack victim

30 December 2008
Irish Independent

Gardai are probing a fire which destroyed the Co Donegal home of a Derry man who was injured in a gun attack three months ago. The blaze at the unoccupied detached house in Transalla outside St Johnston in east Donegal was discovered by neighbours shortly before midnight on Sunday.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, Letterkenny, protective custody, Real IRA, St Johnston

Pipe-bomb target previously shot by RIRA

29 October 2008
The Irish News
Seamus McKinney

The bomb was found outside the house of a 26-year-old man at Transallagh near the Co Donegal border village of St Johnston around 10pm on Monday. The victim, who is originally from nearby Creggan in Derry, was shot by the Real IRA last month. He was ambushed by up to four masked men as he pulled up at his home on the night of September 25. He was shot in the neck but managed to drive off. The gang abducted his girlfriend who had got out of the car to open the gates to his home. The couple's pet dog was also shot in the attack and later died.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, protective custody, Real IRA, St Johnston

10 families evacuated after bomb incident

29 October 2008
Irish Times
Paddy Clancy

Ten families were evacuated from their homes overnight in an explosives scare in the Co Donegal Border village of St Johnston. Army bomb disposal experts yesterday dismantled the device, a pipe bomb attached to a five-gallon drum of petrol. It partly exploded on Monday night but failed to ignite the fuel before its discovery by gardaí shortly before 9.30pm.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, Letterkenny, protective custody, Real IRA, St Johnston

Gun blast man flees firebomb

29 October 2008
The Sun

A man who survived being blasted by a gunman has been targeted again in a firebomb attack on his home. The 26-year-old fled unhurt after the incendiary device failed to fully explode on Monday night. Gardai evacuated residents in Transallagh, near St Johnston, Co Donegal, as army experts dismantled the make-shift bomb and searched for secondary devices. The 11 families were allowed back into their homes yesterday after the area was declared safe. The target, from Derry, underwent emergency surgery just four weeks ago after he was blasted in the neck by gunmen. The Real IRA later said it carried out that attack.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, protective custody, Real IRA, St Johnston

Shooting victim escapes firebomb attack

28 October 2008
Press Association
Sarah Stack

A man shot in the neck last month at his home on the Irish border has escaped a firebomb attack on his home, gardai said today. The 26-year-old Derry man fled unhurt from the latest attack just weeks after a gang gunned him down, abducted his girlfriend and shot dead her dog.

Continue Reading... Labels: 2008, Co. Donegal, Declan Gallagher, Denis Donaldson, Informers, protective custody, Real IRA, St Johnston