"Half of all top IRA men worked for the security services "

[LeoMc]

What a load of shite!! Of course there was informants and collusion to a certain degree, it was a dirty war! If what that says in that article is true, what the f**k was the point??

To answer that you just need to look at the final line of the article

it was just a fact of life, indeed it was well within the rules of our game!"

[Minder]

As long as things are "stable" in Stormont, you will probably never know the full extent of it. I don't think it was as rampant as Hurst is saying but i also think there were far more than Sinn Fein would have you believe.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

As long as things are "stable" in Stormont, you will probably never know the full extent of it. I don't think it was as rampant as Hurst is saying but i also think there were far more than Sinn Fein would have you believe.

There's no end to the (MI5-inspired) crap you're willing to swallow, if you're a heterosexual female your boyfriend is totally infatuated with you.

[Minder]

As long as things are "stable" in Stormont, you will probably never know the full extent of it. I don't think it was as rampant as Hurst is saying but i also think there were far more than Sinn Fein would have you believe.

There's no end to the (MI5-inspired) crap you're willing to swallow, if you're a heterosexual female your boyfriend is totally infatuated with you.

Do you believe it was just the few that we are aware of, seriously?

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Do you believe it was just the few that we are aware of, seriously?

You post something by that MI stooge Liam Clarke and ask about what 'we are aware of'? Seriously?

[Minder]

Do you believe it was just the few that we are aware of, seriously?

You post something by that MI stooge Liam Clarke and ask about what 'we are aware of'? Seriously?

Nicely side stepped.

[Trout]

One in four IRA members were informers Smithwick tribunal told



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18521165

20 June 2012 Last updated at 19:12 Share this pageEmailPrint
One in four in IRA members were informers Smithwick Tribunal told

One in four IRA members, including some in the highest echelons, were informers, a tribunal has been told.

Former garda Owen Corrigan said the RUC and the Army paid "endless sums of money" for poor quality information.

He claimed that the British government were putting such pressure on the security services that they were "grateful for any tittle tattle".

The Smithwick Tribunal is investigating alleged Garda collusion in the IRA murder of two senior RUC officers.

Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan were shot dead in an ambush in south Armagh in March 1989 as they returned from a meeting in Dundalk Garda station.

At the tribunal on Wednesday, Mr Corrigan, a retired detective sergeant from Dundalk, said the informers congregated at night in the town and travelled to Northern Ireland the following day.

He said they would tell on each other as "they had no sense of loyalty".

Mr Corrigan said he had information that the "execution" of the two officers had been planned months in advance and involved a considerable number of people, yet he had not received any hint in advance that the murders were to take place.

Allegations have been made that Mr Corrigan himself colluded with the IRA in the murders of the officers.

But on Tuesday, Mr Corrigan rejected any suggestion he may have been a double agent working for the IRA.

During Wednesday's hearing, Mr Corrigan, said informers had leaked his name because he was a "thorn in their side".-

He also dismissed claims from security journalist and author Chris Ryder that he had sought payment for potential stories, when he met him in the 1970s.

Mr Corrigan said it was "a scurrilous slur" on his good name. He then claimed that Mr Ryder was a member of MI5 - a claim the journalist has denied.

The former garda was questioned by the tribunal about an RUC intelligence document which named him in 1985 as someone who was passing information to the provisionals.

The source of that document was grain smuggler John McAnulty, who was later tortured and murdered by the IRA.

Mr Corrigan pointed out that although the intelligence had been graded as "believable" by the RUC officers who compiled it, their boss, with whom he had a good working relationship had dismissed it as rumour and gossip.

The tribunal continues on Friday.

Chief Supt Breen and Supt Buchanan were the most senior RUC members to be murdered during the Troubles.

[armaghniac]

I wonder did anyone check their travel expenses?

[AQMP]

If half or a quarter or whatever fraction is current of IRA members were informers and the operation to kill these two policemen was months in the planning and involved a large number of people, how come the Guards/RUC seem to know nothing about it and hundreds of other IRA operations

[Nally Stand]

If half or a quarter or whatever fraction is current of IRA members were informers and the operation to kill these two policemen was months in the planning and involved a large number of people, how come the Guards/RUC seem to know nothing about it and hundreds of other IRA operations

And how is it that a number of British army/govn figures admitted they couldn't beat the IRA?

Half or a quarter?! 

[LeoMc]

If half or a quarter or whatever fraction is current of IRA members were informers and the operation to kill these two policemen was months in the planning and involved a large number of people, how come the Guards/RUC seem to know nothing about it and hundreds of other IRA operations

And how is it that a number of British army/govn figures admitted they couldn't beat the IRA?

Half or a quarter?! 

Because then the "Game" would be over.

[Lar Naparka]

There is no doubt the Provos were riddled with informers and full blown agents but "half" is a lot. It's 50%. Dirty War indeed.

The article states 1 in 4 members, rising to 1 in 2 at leadership.

I've no idea if that claim is true or not but I know the more or less the same thing was said of the Old IRA back in the War of Independence.
Going by what I've read ad been told by some of those in the 'RA back then, it seems the Sinn Fein government had feck all control over the various active service units.
Each unit acted as an autonomous entity and the commandment was a warlord in his area.
He could act against the Brits, or the prods or indeed anyone he had a gripe with.
The same thing was said about the East Tyrone Brigade back in the 80s.
One of Bertie's ministers told me that the G2, the Irish army's intelligence unit, believed that the Loughgall ambush was set up by members of the northern command who were pissed off by what this unit was up to.
It wouldn't surprise me if that was true because it would not be the first time that leaders acted as informers in any struggle against the brits.
It's gone on since the time of Diarmuid McMurrough!

[screenexile]

If half or a quarter or whatever fraction is current of IRA members were informers and the operation to kill these two policemen was months in the planning and involved a large number of people, how come the Guards/RUC seem to know nothing about it and hundreds of other IRA operations

And how is it that a number of British army/govn figures admitted they couldn't beat the IRA?

Half or a quarter?! 

But did the IRA beat the British? Maybe it was a draw? Is there extra time and penalties then?!

[Applesisapples]

At this stage in the process does anyone really care who squealed on who. We have a semblance of peace that's all that matters. One thing though, having lived through all of the current troubles and having a clear recollection of the hunger strikes, their cause and the raw emotion nationalists of all hues felt, I find the ignorant comments from some on here quite distasful and indeed unhelpful. Although perhaps they are made more for effect than fact.

[Evil Genius]

If half or a quarter or whatever fraction is current of IRA members were informers and the operation to kill these two policemen was months in the planning and involved a large number of people, how come the Guards/RUC seem to know nothing about it and hundreds of other IRA operations

Re the two RUC Officers, if their murder really had been "months in the planning", that would mean that the murderers knew the date of the RUC visit to Dundalk and the return route home months in advance.

That is patently impossible. In fact, the significance of their murder is alleged at Smethwick to be quite the contrary, namely the IRA were able to mount the ambush at relatively short notice, since they had an agent in Dundalk Gardai Station tipping them off.

And as for the "hundreds of other IRA operations", it is widely known and accepted that for every operation which was launched, many other proposed or planned operations were aborted variously because:

(a ) they were felt to be too risky for the operatives; and/or
(b ) the targets' own security precautions were too effective; and/or
(c ) the operatives were infiltrated by informers; and/or
(d ) Security Forces electronic interception and technical capabilities etc were increasingly to give them an advantage over the  IRA.