Sinn Féin politicians and employees looked for compromising sexual and
financial details on unionist party members during a year-long Sinn Féin/IRA
spying campaign at Stormont.
Details of the alleged spy ring, the existence of which has always been
denied by Sinn Féin, have been given to the Sunday Tribune by a member of
the party's Stormont team.
They suggest that the spy ring was very active and was not a fabrication by
British 'securocrats', as Sinn Féin has claimed.
The source claimed the party's Assembly representatives and administrative
staff at the time knew of the spy ring's existence and were asked to gather
intelligence on unionist politicians.
He described the party's ongoing denials that no Sinn Féin spy ring existed
as "completely untrue" and said it was time to tell the truth about events
at Stormont.
The source claimed the spy ring was "an open secret" among the Sinn Féin
team and began a year before the 2002 arrest of Denis Donaldson, the party's
Stormont administrator who was outed as a British agent last month.
Donaldson wasn't the spy ring's leader or organiser. According to the
source, an Assembly member, whose name is known to the Sunday Tribune,
instructed other Sinn Féin representatives and staff to gather information
on unionist Assembly members.
"We were told to find out any weaknesses they might have . . . how much they
drank, where they drank, who they drank with, " the source said. We were
told to find out if they had a gambling problem or money difficulties, if
they cheated on their wives, who they were sleeping with, if any of them
were gay."
Some of the Sinn Féin members and employees cooperated but others refused.
Ulster Unionist politicians were the targets as the DUP wouldn't talk to
Sinn Féin. "Barriers were breaking down between us and the UUP. People would
find themselves naturally chatting to UUP colleagues during a tea-break in a
committee meeting or in the members' bar, " the source said.
Information gathered was relayed back to the Assembly member organising the
spy ring, who liased with a Sinn Féin staff member whose name is known to
the Sunday Tribune.
It is understood the Sinn Féin staff member then reported the information to
the director of intelligence of the IRA's GHQ (general headquarters) staff,
the west Belfast man who masterminded the Northern Bank robbery.
Some Assembly members objected to the spy ring, believing it contradicted
Sinn Féin's stated aim of building trust with unionists.
The source stressed unionists were never in danger of assassination from the
IRA. "The operation was to build intelligence and to placate foot-soldiers
in the movement who had doubts about even entering Stormont. It was to relay
the impression 'we might be in here but the war goes on'."
The source also claimed that Donaldson had accessed pornographic material at
Stormont on computers used by Sinn Féin, but had stopped after complaints
from a female member of Sinn Féin's staff who feared that his internet
habits would damage the party if they were discovered.
A Sinn Féin spokesman yesterday denied the party operated a spy ring at
Stormont. "There was a spy ring, at the centre of which was a British agent,
Denis Donaldson, " he said.
