Family calls for ‘proper’ investigation into spy’s death

The family of Denis Donaldson have said they are entitled to have “any and all” information about his death held by authorities on both sides of the border, a lawyer representing his family has said.

Mr Donaldson was murdered in Donegal in 2006 after it emerged he was a British agent, working for police and M15 from inside Sinn Féin for 20 years.

On Friday, the Donaldson family called for a public inquiry into the murder.

Last week a court found the former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams was defamed in a BBC NI Spotlight programme broadcast in 2016 and an accompanying online article, in which an anonymous contributor alleged he sanctioned the 2006 murder.

Mr Adams has always denied any involvement. In 2009, the Real IRA said it had murdered him.

The BBC, which during the trial had argued a defence of fair and reasonable reporting on a matter of public interest, has been given more time to consider appealing the verdict, before paying all of the former Sinn Féin leader’s damages and legal costs.

Enda McGarrity, who is the Donaldson family’s lawyer, said the last five weeks have been “extremely difficult” for them and did not anticipate the extent to which it would “retraumatise” them.

“I think probably the most galling thing is the fact that they haven’t been able to get their own investigation while five weeks was devoted to a trial for an issue which is periphery to the actual issue,” he told BBC News NI’s Good Morning Ulster programme.

He said the family had not supported either side in the libel action and viewed it as “not their fight”.

Mr McGarrity said the family is “ambivalent” about any potential appeal by the BBC, and that the focus should be on a “proper and effective” investigation into the murder, and circumstances surrounding the murder, of Mr Donaldson.

He said his client was focussed on “truth recovery” and a “proper and effective investigation into the murder and circumstances surrounding the murder”.

“The Adams case was ostensibly about reputation,” he told the programme.

“We acknowledge that people have a right to reputation but there is a much stronger right to life, and when life is unlawfully taken there’s a strong legislative obligation for an effective investigation to take place and that has not happened and that is the family’s number one priority.”

A Garda (Irish police) investigation was launched following Mr Donaldson’s murder, and his inquest has been adjourned 27 times.

Mr McGarrity said the family believe the investigation is “too narrow”, and authorities both in the Republic and in Northern Ireland have information such as Mr Donaldson’s personal journal which could be key.

“[Gardaí] are focused on who pulled the trigger rather than the broader circumstances surrounding the exposure, identification… surrounding the murder,” Mr McGarrity added.

“There are circumstances where delay gets to the point of being beyond the pale and the family have waited 19 years already so justice delayed in a sense is justice denied.”

Mr McGarrity said it has been a “long and torturous road” for the family, who are now renewing their call for a public inquiry to be held in the Republic.

“The reality is that they have exhausted every avenue that is open to them both sides of the border and they’re in quite a unique position whereby they don’t fall within the category of victims that can have cases investigated by the Legacy Act,” he said.

In a statement, the Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan called Mr Donaldson’s murder a “callous act of violence”.

“It is regrettable that to date it has not been possible to bring those responsible to court to answer for their actions.”

O’Callaghan said that has there is an active ongoing investigation by gardaí it “would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

Mr Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin’s rise as a political force in Northern Ireland.

But he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had worked for the police and MI5 inside Sinn Féin for 20 years.

In 2009, the Real IRA said it had murdered him.

Mr Donaldson was interned without trial for periods in the 1970s and, after signing the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Féin appointed him as its key administrator in the party’s Stormont offices.

In 2005, Mr Donaldson confessed he was a spy for British intelligence for two decades, before disappearing from Belfast.

He was found dead in a small, rundown cottage in Glenties, County Donegal.