Irish Republican News · October 10, 2007

INLA outs informer

A man who worked as an informer within the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) has been uncovered within the ranks of the republican socialist movement in Derry.

Last week, the INLA in Derry claimed they had discovered that a former senior member of the organisation in Derry had been working for British military intelligence and the RUC/PSNI Special Branch as a paid agent since 1985.

It is now understood the man has left Derry and is now living in England after admitting his role to the organisation.

The man at the centre of the allegations, who has not been named, as a key figure in both the INLA and the IRSP since the early 1980s.

The informer had been meeting with his MI5 and Special Branch handlers as often as twice a week for over twenty years to pass on information about the activities of the republican socialist movement. As well as passing information about INLA operations in Derry, it is also believed that he gave details of the political activities of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP).

The man is understood to have been debriefed by his former associates and has given a full account of his dealings with British intelligence operatives.

An IRSP spokesperson confirmed that the man had left the city. “He is believed to be now living somewhere in England. He left Derry during the last week. Before he left he co-operated fully and made a full disclosure to the IRSP of all the information he passed to his British handlers over the years,” the IRSP spokesperson said.

It is believed that the family of the alleged informer are still in Derry and have been visited by representatives of the republican socialist movement. “Members of the republican socialist movement have been to see them after the discovery that he was working as an informer to assure them that they are under no threat whatsoever,” he added.

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