Taoiseach names Scappaticci as former British army agent Stakeknife

Operation Kenova examined the activities of Stakeknife, a mole operating within the Provisional IRA's Internal Security Unit in the 1980s, and found he was linked to at least 14 murders and 15 abductions

The British Government has been repeatedly called on to formally name Stakeknife. Freddie Scappaticci (pictured) was 77 when he died in 2023. File photo: PA

In the Dáil on Wednesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin formally named Freddie Scappaticci as the former British army agent, and member of the IRA, known as Stakeknife.

In a set of statements from TDs on the report of Operation Kenova, Mr Martin said the identity of Stakeknife was “clear to everybody” as he said Mr Scappaticci should also be named by the British government.

The Taoiseach also faced criticism from some parties for the focus on Sinn Féin in his statement, while its leader Mary Lou McDonald said she was "sorry for all the lives lost during the conflict and for the hurt and loss endured — without exception”.

The Operation Kenova probe examined the activities of Stakeknife, a mole operating within the Provisional IRA's Internal Security Unit in the 1980s, and found he was linked to at least 14 murders and 15 abductions, concluding that more lives were probably lost than saved through the operation of the agent.

It was unable to confirm Stakeknife's identity in its final report in December after the British government refused its authorisation to do so.

The British government has been repeatedly called on to formally name Stakeknife. Scappaticci was 77 when he died in 2023.

In the Dáil, Mr Martin, justice minister Jim O'Callaghan, and other TDs gave statements in relation to the revelations from Operation Kenova. Mr Martin said that while the details were "uncomfortable", he said "the past must not be hidden".

He said: "The identity of Stakeknife is clear to everybody here, and I've previously said that the agent should be officially named by the United Kingdom government, particularly because of his close relationship with those who like to refer to themselves as the republican movement."

Naming Scappaticci, Mr Martin said the Kenova probe found the agent was implicated in "grotesque and serious crimes" as well as "harrowing" and "shocking" acts by the Provisional IRA.

He said: "Setting out the activities of Stakeknife, it sheds essential light on the harrowing pain and loss caused to individuals, to their families and through the systematic exercise of terror to communities at large by the Provisional IRA.

"We should have an apology from Sinn Féin in respect of the activities of the Provisional IRA, as documented in this report, it's long past time for that apology and renunciation of what happened to occur."

Mr O'Callaghan said that allegations had surrounded Stakeknife for years and said there was a "perverse form of collusion" from British intelligence in relation to Stakeknife.

He said: "Kenova has exposed the nature and extent of the collusion that took place in relation to Freddie Scappaticci.

"Kenova expressed caution about the careless use of the term collusion, but there can be no doubt that collusion took place in relation to Stakeknife.

"It was a perverse form of collusion in which the interests of British intelligence and their efforts to protect their informant at the heart of the Provisional IRA coalesced with the Provisional IRA's own murderous and illegitimate actions to judge and savagely punish those it deemed a threat to its aims."

In her statement, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that no report, debate, or political process could ever fully address the human cost of lives lost during the conflict in Northern Ireland.

“Before addressing these findings, I want to say this clearly and directly,” she said.

"To all those who have suffered such grievous loss, I am sorry for all the lives lost during the conflict and for the hurt and loss endured — without exception.

"Those words reflect a genuine sense of sorrow and regret for everyone who was hurt and harmed during those years of violence — civilians, combatants, and families whose lives were forever changed."

She said that the British State was withholding the truth and forfeited any claim to good faith in dealing with the past.

“Despite the scale of evidence, the message is unmistakable,” she said. “British state actors will not be pursued, regardless of the dead. That is not the rule of law; that is impunity.” 

 Other opposition parties criticised the Government's attention on Sinn Féin.

People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett said: "I just find it interesting that the Government's entire focus in this debate seems to be to score political points against Sinn Féin, rather than to be concerned about the profound implications of the fact that the British state was running an agent like Scappaticci, who was involved in killing people, abducting people."

This sentiment was echoed by Aontú's Peadar Tóibín, who told Mr O'Callaghan: "There is an instinct, especially amongst your party leader at times, to focus on IRA actions rather than British actions.

"And I think at times, there's more political benefits in the coffins that have been created by the IRA than the coffins that have been created by the British government and I think that's wrong.”