Questions remain over undercover activist

WHEN Brendan Smith takes up his new role as part-time justice minister next week one of the first letters he will receive will be from Labour TD Michel D Higgins demanding a statement on the government’s level of knowledge of rogue British undercover policeman Mark Kennedy’s activities in Ireland.

The Kennedy case has convulsed the British media and police since he was publicly uncovered earlier this month as a deep-cover agent who had operated within the environmental movement for seven years. However despite numerous accounts of his participation, and allegations of him taking a leading “agent provocateur” role in Irish protests, the Government has refused to comment or even acknowledge the issue, of what British police minister Nick Herbert has described as a covert operation which went “very wrong”.

The Government’s claims of “no knowledge” are even more unusual due to the fact that for the seven years from 2003 that PC Mark Kennedy lived his double life as a long haired environmental radical, his two children and his now estranged wife lived in her home village near Kanturk and were frequently visited by the off-duty Metropolitan police officer. It is reported that in the local pub Mr Kennedy was well known as the “uncover policeman”.