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In
the wake of the Stakeknife affair considerable public
interest has alighted on the murky world inhabited
by informers. The pace of the allegations thrown Freddie
Scappaticci’s way was nothing if not relentless.
The demeanour of confidence and certainty assumed
by the media in its presentation of the case against
him, coupled with some of his earlier apologists later
displaying signs of second thoughts, has left the
alleged senior IRA security department figure with
a dearth of allies willing to defend his reputation.
With this as a backdrop, enough people are no longer
so quick to dismiss claims that the Provisional IRA
was extensively infiltrated over the course of its
campaign.
Some
of this reluctance is fuelled by the titillation that
intrigue offers. When the politicians are doing their
utmost to smother us in ennui, the excitement induced
by wondering who may have been ‘at their game’
working for ‘the other side’ punctuates
the political tedium. But another factor is the result
of the manner in which the republican constituency
dealt with the salvo launched against Scappaticci.
Prevarication and concealment have done little to
assure swathes of republicans that all allegations
of treachery within the ranks originate solely with
those termed securocrats.
For
this reason the suggestion that Belfast republican
and North Belfast News editor, Sean Mag Uidhir, is
an agent of the British state will pass as currency
in some quarters. Given that IRA operations more often
went wrong than right (some estimates vary from 80%
to 90% having to be aborted), there is no deficiency
of people willing to suspect and no shortage of those
suspected. It is perhaps no exaggeration to suggest
that everyone in the organisation has at some point
crossed the ‘think dirty’ radar screen of
someone else. But the wider republican constituency
should think long and hard as to where exactly it
wants the evidence bar placed before somebody is judged
culpable in the volatile court of community opinion.
Unlike
the substantive accusations made against Scappaticci,
the penumbra hovering around Sean Mac Uidhir emanates
from the most dubious of quarters. Significantly,
this was reflected to a great extent in the Sunday
papers which covered the story. The People, which
moved with devastating efficiency to destroy Freddie
Scappaticci‘s defence, was at best pedestrian
in its thrust against Mag Uidhir. Peter Keeley - or
Kevin Fulton, as the North Belfast News editor’s
accuser prefers to be known - does not have the credibility
in media circles that Martin Ingram possessed.
It
is generally accepted that Ingram was the primary
source behind a process which ultimately led to Freddie
Scappaticci being identified as Stakeknife. Ironically,
Ingram’s credibility was enhanced immeasurably
by the Andersonstown News Group, for whom Sean Mag
Uidhir is an employee. It gave the former FRU operative
a platform in the pages of one of its publications
from which he rightly assailed the British state on
collusion. Ingram is said to be motivated by a crisis
of conscience over the murderous devices through which
the British implemented their security policy in the
North of Ireland. By contrast, Fulton was a paid informer
whose main gripe with the British military is not
one of ethics but of payment - 35 rather than 30 pieces
of silver. Described by Ronnie Flanagan - albeit in
a very self-serving fashion - as a Walter Mitty, alleged
by Nuala O’Loan to have passed on false information,
and universally disbelieved in republican circles
when he claims to have been interrogated by Scappaticci
in 1994, nothing so far has been forthcoming that
would lead a neutral party to conclude that Fulton
can be relied upon to provide credible testimony.
The
failure by the republican constituency to respond
honestly when confronted with the Scappaticci affair
and instead seek refuge in a victim’s asylum
from which it could shout journocrat and securocrat
at everyone not sharing its outlook, has needlessly
exposed many republicans to risk. As a result, elements
within the British security apparatus are now well
placed to convince people that there were and are
numerous agents within the IRA. Through the Scappaticci
case, British military intelligence operatives have
secured a strategic beachhead from which they can,
if they decide to, accuse any republican of having
at one time been in their pay.
As
it stands the case presented against Sean Mag Uidhir
is thoroughly unpersuasive. His response to the accusations
has been both rapid and robust in a way that Scappaticci’s
was not. For those of us who have known Sean Mag Uidhir
both as a comrade or friend the allegations - conceded
by The People to be unsubstantiated - that he now
faces can have no bearing on how we view him. Ultimately,
if those who were or are working for the British are
to be exposed - as indeed they should be - there can
be no concession made to unsubstantiated allegations
issued by every tout who happens to be embroiled in
a pay dispute with his former masters.
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