Half PIRA seem to be British agents, says O’Dea

DEFENCE Minister Willie O’Dea said yesterday it seemed that about ‘half the Provisional IRA’ was made up of British agents.

He reiterated the view of the Taoiseach that the revelation that a senior Sinn Féin figure had been acting as a British spy for 20 years was “bizarre.”

“Obviously, Sinn Féin have come out very strongly on the basis they themselves are trying to avoid a lot of questions from their own members as to how somebody so senior in the organisation could be working for British intelligence for 20 years,” Mr O’Dea said.

He said the recent revelations about Denis Donaldson come on top of earlier revelations that the deputy head of their internal security was also a British agent.

“From what we read, it seems half the Provisional IRA seem to be made up of British agents.”

The minister was speaking after a ceremony in Limerick’s Sarsfield Barracks to mark Ireland’s 50 years in the UN.

“Since our first UN peacekeeping mission in 1958, our troops have performed over 54,000 tours of duty on approximately 58 UN peace support operations worldwide,” he said.

He said members of the Irish defence forces had never hesitated to move into some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones.

We cannot forget the 85 Irish soldiers who have lost their lives while on UN peace keeping missions abroad, he said.

Mr O’Dea extended Christmas greetings to the Irish troops serving with the UN and said he would be visiting troops in Liberia in the New Year.

Brigadier General Padraig O’Callaghan, officer commanding the First Southern Brigade, also attended yesterday’s ceremony where a wreath was placed by former members of the defence forces who served with the UN.