On October 4, 2002, the Police Services of Northern Ireland entered Stormont and raided a Sinn Fein office. Denis Donaldson, who was Sinn Fein's head of administration at Stormont, was arrested for spying, along with his son-in-law Ciaran Kearney, along with William Mackessy. There were a total of seven charges against them. The charge that Sinn Fein was spying inside Stormont had two dramatic results:
At midnight on October 14 the Assembly was suspended and later dissolved on April 28 the following year.
Since then the power-sharing experiment has been mothballed and direct rule by Great Britain has been reimposed.
After two years the government suddenly dropped the charges citing "no evidence in the public's interest." The reaction, of course, was huge both on the Republican and Unionist sides. But the most staggering news was yet to come. The bigger news below.
Mr. Donaldson, the supposed Sinn Fein spy, has now confessed that he was actually a spy for the British government for the last 20 years, and that the "arrest" was a plot on behalf of the Police Services of NI described by Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy (now MP) as a "politically inspired intervention by the PSNI as part of their wider anti-Sinn Fein and anti-Irish republican agenda". It is now believed that the plot was part of a Save Dave (Trimble) campaign initially and it was also designed to bring down the (power-sharing) institutions, which it did.
Mr. Donaldson said: "There was no spy ring at Stormont. There never was," he said. "The fact that the media was here on the morning that our offices (at Stormont) was raided testifies to that.
Tony Blair claimed just 3 days ago that he did not know why the charges were dropped against the three men. I find this rather hard to believe first because the bringing down of the government was so dramatic and serious, second because the dropping of the charges as baseless would be sure to create a storm, and third because Mr. Donaldson had spied for the British government for TWENTY years. How could Blair be so ignorant of all these things?
Bertie Ahern appears to be struck dumb by the revelations. It will be interesting to see if he was played for a fool by Blair. Ahern has had some political delight in knocking Sinn Fein over the last three years but will now have to eat some of his words. What would be the finishing touch to all this is if Bertie also knew, at some point, that Donaldson was a spy for the Brits.
So we have had three years of no power-sharing government in Northern Ireland working to the advantage of the Unionists and the PSNI. The one good thing that has come about is the destruction of the IRA weapons and the truce, but could this not have also happened with the government intact and operating and the sides learning to co-operate and govern? The Unionists have gained three more years of spewing hate. Paisley has prevailed over Trimble. What happens next will be interesting to watch no matter your political persuasion. The government should by rights be back up and working in the new year after these disclosures. What is to become of the PSNI who appear to be ready to do anything to help the Unionists is another matter to solve and solve quickly.