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Two held over murder of British spy Denis Donaldson Two held in Ireland over murder of British spy Denis Donaldson
(about 1 hour later)
Two men have been arrested in connection with the dissident republican murder of British spy Denis Donaldson. Irish detectives have arrested two men in connection with the murder of one of MI5’s most important spies inside the IRA.
Donaldson, a senior Sinn Féin official and close colleague of the party’s president, Gerry Adams, was shot dead at an isolated cottage near Glenties in Co Donegal in April 2006. He had been living there since his exposure as an MI5 agent the previous year. The pair have been detained for questioning about the murder of former leading Sinn Féin member Denis Donaldson in Co Donegal in 2006.
Dissident republican group the Real IRA claimed responsibility for the murder in 2008 but the circumstances surrounding Donaldson’s exposure as a British agent and subsequent assassination have long been shrouded in mystery. The Garda Síochána said the men, who are in their 40s and 70s, were detained on Tuesday under the Irish Republic’s Offences Against the State Act.
The Garda Síochána said the two men – one aged in his 40s and one in his 70s – were detained in the Donegal area. They are being held at Letterkenny garda station. They are being held at Letterkenny garda station in Co Donegal. Donaldson, a former close associate of Sinn Féin’s president, Gerry Adams, was killed by a shotgun blast as he answered the door to his cottage near Glenties in April 2006.
A long-delayed inquest into the shooting has been adjourned almost 20 times. The 55-year-old had been exposed months before his death as an MI5 agent working inside Sinn Féin and the IRA. Dissident republican terror group the Real IRA admitted responsibility for the murder.
Gardaí have repeatedly urged the coroner to postpone the inquest, citing concerns it might compromise their criminal investigation. Prior to his exposure as a British spy, Donaldson was a prominent figure in the republican movement and eventually became head of Sinn Féin’s administrative team in the Stormont parliament in Belfast.
The delays have been a source of anger for Donaldson’s relatives. They have launched a legal action against the Irish state as a consequence. The inquest into his death has been delayed at least 19 times, with his family taking legal action against the authorities in Ireland over the delays.
In 2014, the Garda made a mutual assistance request to a police force outside the Irish Republic in a bid to gain what it described as potentially “significant” evidential material. That material was secured in March this year. There have been allegations that a journal belonging to Donaldson was found in his cottage and, due to its sensitive contents, the Irish police have consistently applied for postponements of the inquest.