More to be revealed in spy probe - Trimble

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble today said alleged espionage activities by the IRA uncovered in recent police moves in Northern Ireland went right to the heart of the republican movement’s leadership.

The former Northern Ireland First Minister made the comment in Dublin after briefing European Union envoys based in the Irish capital on the peace process in the wake of the suspension of the ruling executive on the invitation of Britain’s ambassador to Ireland, Sir Ivor Roberts.

He insisted about the siezure of files, computers and disks containing material relating to prison officers and political parties in police raids: “We are not talking about leaks, we are talking about theft.

“We are talking about an organised criminal conspiracy to have access to government offices for the purpose of stealing documents.

“We know that leaks occur from time to time, but this is of a different order, a different character completely.

“This is big and it is an inquiry that has a long way to go. We are actually in the early stages, and there may be an awful lot more to come out, and we may find that his may go right to the heart of the Provisional IRA.”

Mr Trimble added: “That means it is going to the heart of the republican movement.

“And I would not be surprised if, when they check through all the fingerprints on all the documents, we do not find that this inquiry takes us right to the heart of the leadership of the republican movement.”

Pressed over whether he believed top Sinn Fein figures like party president Gerry Adams and former Northern Ireland education minister Martin McGuinness could be implicated, the Unionist leader said: “I am not in a position to believe or disbelieve, nor am I in a position to prove or disprove.”

He pointed once more, though, to the Police Service of Northern Ireland view that the conspiracy went “right to the heart of the Provisional movement.

“We know that the political and paramilitary elements of that movement are intertwined – especially in their leadership. And we know that some of the espionage was done for political reasons.”

Mr Trimble also said he believed it could be a good thing that the affair surrounding the police seizures had come to a head “because it is drawing attention yet again to the ambiguity that there is in the terms of the intentions and the objective of the republican movement.

“I hope that we all – the government here and in the United Kingdom and the other parties in the peace process all use this as an opportunity for putting pressure on the republicans to remove that ambiguity completely. That is important.”