Man held over IRA informer murder

Gardaí tonight arrested a 70-year-old man over the murder of IRA informer Denis Donaldson.

The man is being detained in Letterkenny Garda station, Co Donegal.

He is being held under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

The former senior Sinn Féin officer from west Belfast was shot dead at a remote cottage in Co Donegal on April 4 2006.

Just months beforehand he publicly revealed he had been working as an informer inside the republican movement for years.

Only last week, his family demanded both the Garda and Police Service of the North do more to bring his killers to justice.

In a statement issued through solicitors, they claimed British security agencies had a part to play in his death.

Mr Donaldson was arrested after police raided Sinn Féin's offices at Stormont, where he worked as the party's head of administration, as part of an investigation into republican intelligence gathering on October 2002.

His arrest, along with two other men, became known as Stormontgate – a republican spy ring at the heart of government.

It caused the collapse of the devolved power-sharing administration.

But in 2005 the charges against the three men were dropped.

In December of that year Mr Donaldson, 56, was expelled from Sinn Fein after admitting he had been a British spy.

He moved to Cloghercor, Doochary, near Glenties in Co Donegal.

The man in garda custody can be held for up to 72 hours.

It is understood to be the first arrest by gardaí investigating the murder.