Martin McGuinness: Difference between revisions
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==British Agent Speculation== |
==British Agent Speculation== |
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On [[May 28]] 2006 the [[Sunday World]] newspaper claimed in its front page headline that "McGuinness was a Brit Spy" <ref> [http://cryptome.org/mcguinness-spy.htm Newspaper articles] [http://cryptome.org/mcguinness-taps.htm Tapped telephone calls of McGuinness speaking to British Officials and Gerry Adams]</ref>. A former agent handler in the shadowy [[Force Research Unit]], [[Martin Ingram]], who also unmasked the spy Freddie Scappaticci codenamed “[[Stakeknife]]” backed the claim. He said that McGuinness had been working for MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service, since the 1980s and produced what purported to be a transcript of a meeting between McGuinness and an MI6 handler. McGuinness dismissed the claims as ''"total and absolute nonsense"''<ref>[http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0530/mcguinnessm.html Spy claims are total nonsense - McGuinness] [[RTÉ]] News report, [[30 May]] 2006</ref> |
On [[May 28]] 2006 the [[Sunday World]] newspaper claimed in its front page headline that "McGuinness was a Brit Spy" <ref> [http://cryptome.org/mcguinness-spy.htm Newspaper articles] [http://cryptome.org/mcguinness-taps.htm Tapped telephone calls of McGuinness speaking to British Officials and Gerry Adams]</ref>. A former agent handler in the shadowy [[Force Research Unit]], [[Martin Ingram]], who also unmasked the spy Freddie Scappaticci codenamed “[[Stakeknife]]” backed the claim. He said that McGuinness had been working for MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service, since the 1980s and produced what purported to be a transcript of a meeting between McGuinness and an MI6 handler. McGuinness dismissed the claims as ''"total and absolute nonsense"''<ref>[http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0530/mcguinnessm.html Spy claims are total nonsense - McGuinness] [[RTÉ]] News report, [[30 May]] 2006</ref> |
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According to the "News of the World " (4/6/06) he is lined up to be the next manager of Brentford. |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 16:48, 4 June 2006
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (born in Derry 23 May 1950) is an Irish republican politician and Member of Parliament, and a former Provisional IRA guerrilla leader.
He is the Sinn Féin MP for Mid Ulster, the seat once held by Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, but like his party colleagues, he has refused to take his seat in Westminster. He is also a member of the currently-suspended (due to alleged IRA espionage activities) Northern Ireland Assembly, and served as Minister for Education in the Northern Ireland Executive between 1999 and 2002.
He joined the Provisional IRA around 1970 at the age of 20, after the Troubles broke out. McGuinness negotiated alongside Gerry Adams with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Willie Whitelaw, in 1972. He was convicted by the Republic of Ireland's Special Criminal Court in 1973, after being caught with a car with 250 lb (113 kg) of explosives and nearly 5000 rounds of ammunition. He refused to recognize the court, and was sentenced to six months. In the same court in the same year he declared his membership of the Irish Republican Army without equivocation: 'We have fought against the killing of our people. I am a member of Oglaigh na hÉireann and very, very proud of it.' [1]
After his release, and another conviction in the Republic (for IRA membership), he became increasingly prominent in Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA. He has been in contact with British intelligence since the 1980 hunger strike [[1]] He was elected to a short-lived assembly at Stormont in 1982, and was then banned from entering Great Britain under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
In August 1993 he was the subject of a two part special by the "Cook Report", an investigative Central TV documentary series presented by Roger Cook. It accused him of continuing involvement in IRA activity, of attending an interrogation and of encouraging Frank Hegarty, an informer, to return to Derry from a safe house in England. Hegarty's mother Rose appeared on the programme to tell of telephone calls to McGuinness and of Hegarty's subsequent murder. McGuinness denied her account and denounced the programme saying "I have never been in the IRA. I don't have any sway over the IRA" [2].
He had become Sinn Féin's chief negotiator in the time leading to the Belfast Agreement. He became MP for Mid Ulster in 1997, and after the Agreement was concluded, was returned as a member of the Assembly, and nominated by his party for a ministerial position in the power-sharing executive, where he became Minister for Education. He was re-elected to the Westminster Parliament in 2001, but along with the rest of his party has refused to take his seat there (see abstentionism).
In November 2003 he confirmed to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that he had been second-in-command of the Provisional IRA in Derry in 1972, at the time of Bloody Sunday at the age of 21, but he refused to divulge any information about other Provisional IRA members.
In 2005, the Irish government claimed McGuinness, along with Gerry Adams and Martin Ferris, were members of the seven-man IRA Army Council [3]. McGuinness denied the claims, saying he was no longer an IRA member.
He is married to the former Bernadette Canning, and is the father of four. He took the name Pacelli at confirmation and is viewed by some as devout Catholic who carries a scapular given to him by his father.
British Agent Speculation
On May 28 2006 the Sunday World newspaper claimed in its front page headline that "McGuinness was a Brit Spy" [4]. A former agent handler in the shadowy Force Research Unit, Martin Ingram, who also unmasked the spy Freddie Scappaticci codenamed “Stakeknife” backed the claim. He said that McGuinness had been working for MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service, since the 1980s and produced what purported to be a transcript of a meeting between McGuinness and an MI6 handler. McGuinness dismissed the claims as "total and absolute nonsense"[5]
According to the "News of the World " (4/6/06) he is lined up to be the next manager of Brentford.
References
- ^ BBC Profile
- ^ Martin McGuinness: From Guns to Government Liam Clarke and Kathryn Johnston, ISBN 1840187255
- ^ Adams and McGuinness named as IRA leaders Daily Telegraph, 21 February 2005
- ^ Newspaper articles Tapped telephone calls of McGuinness speaking to British Officials and Gerry Adams
- ^ Spy claims are total nonsense - McGuinness RTÉ News report, 30 May 2006
See also
- IRA Army Council
- IRA Chiefs of Staff
- Provisional Irish Republican Army
- Gerry Adams
- Sinn Féin
- History of Northern Ireland
- Terrorism
- The Troubles
- Northern Ireland peace process
- Martin Ingram
- Operation Taurus
- Freddie Scappaticci
External links
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Martin McGuinness MP
- TheyWork ForYou.com - Martin McGuinness MP
- 30 May 1972: Official IRA declares ceasefire. A young Martin McGuinness gives the PIRA's reaction - VIDEO
- 1950 births
- Living people
- Irish Republican Army
- Current members of the United Kingdom Parliament from Northern Irish constituencies
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament from Northern Ireland constituencies
- Roman Catholic politicians
- Natives of County Londonderry
- Sinn Féin politicians
- Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly