Ahern to tackle Blair on Stakeknife murders

THE Taoiseach is to demand answers from British Prime Minister Tony Blair on British intelligence agencies’ collusion with an IRA double agent in a series of murders.

The family of Alfredo ‘Freddie’ Scappaticci, the man named as the British Army spy codenamed Stakeknife, yesterday told Sinn Féin he is still in Belfast.

However, British security sources insisted he had gone into hiding in Britain and police helped smuggle the 45-year-old out of the country because he feared for his life.

Last night, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy called on the IRA not to take revenge on the man alleged to be the No.1 British spy in Northern Ireland.

The Government may call for a proposed inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane to be broadened to include Stakeknife’s activities. The latest allegations strengthened the case for an inquiry to be established, a Government source said.

But the Government will first wait for the conclusion of the investigation into murders where there are allegations of collusion, currently being conducted by the retired Canadian Judge Peter Corry, the Government source said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen will raise the Stakeknife affair directly with Mr Murphy next week.

Sinn Féin said British intelligence had leaked the name of the Provisional IRA informer, believed to be responsible for dozens of murders, including the killing of Co Louth farmer Tom Oliver.

Sinn Féin policing spokesman Gerry Kelly claimed Mr Scappaticci’s family had been in contact with the party seeking advice and denied he had fled Belfast or been taken into custody. “We advised the family to go to a solicitor and indeed Freddie Scappaticci to go to a solicitor and to make a public statement on the volume of allegations over the weekend. We have not been in direct contact with Freddy Scappaticci,” Mr Kelly said.

Alarmed at reports that a spy within the IRA had been allegedly free to murder, Bertie Ahern said the serious allegations raised fundamental issues and added to a long list of allegations about British intelligence.

Stating the allegations had to be dealt with, Mr Ahern warned they should not be allowed to harm the progress of the peace process.

“They don’t help our situation in trying to stabilise things. But I think we have to be careful to try to deal with them and at the same time not to allow ourselves damage the future,” he said.

Fine Gael said yesterday the immediate priority was to establish key facts about what happened. Labour said they were deeply concerned about the allegations answers were required from the British authorities.

Reportedly, Mr Scappaticci was one of the IRA’s key men in tracking down informers who were later interrogated, tortured and shot dead. He was also alleged to have tipped off security chiefs involved in the undercover operation which resulted in three IRA members being gunned down by the SAS in Gibraltar in 1987.

Just last month, Metropolitan Police commissioner John Stevens published a report confirming collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitary terrorists. The commissioner’s investigators wants to question Stakeknife about claims that innocent Catholics and other agents were murdered to protect the informer’s identity.

British intelligence officers are also expected to be questioned about their No.1 spy in Northern Ireland.