The alleged high ranking member of the IRA named in media reports as a security forces informer has not fled Belfast, according Sinn Féin's policing spokesman Mr Gerry Kelly.
|
|
Freddie Scappaticci, codename
'Stakeknife', pictured at a republican funeral in 1987. |
Blaming the British government for revealing the identity of the alleged IRA spy codenamed 'Stakeknife', the north Belfast MLA today said Mr Freddie Scappaticci's family had been in contact with the party, denying the Andersonstown man had fled Belfast and asking the party for advice.
Mr Scappaticci was named by several newspapers this weekend as a double agent in charge of the Provisional IRA's internal security while acting as a mole for the notorious British army Force Research Unit (FRU) which runs undercover operations in Northern Ireland.
Mr Kelly said the party had not been in "direct contact" with Mr Scappaticci but said their advice to the alleged informant and his family was to see a solicitor and make a public statement on the allegations.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach has confirmed the matter will be raised during the British/Irish intergovernmental conference next week.
He said he was concerned that the FRU were again at the centre of allegations of collusion between paramilitaries and British intelligence.
"We certainly will raise it with the British authoritiesand we will particularly raise it at the British-Irish intergovernmental meeting next week," Mr Ahern said.
"We certainly will be expressing our concerns and raising the issues again as I always do," he added.
He said this raised concerns for the peace process as it moved towards the endgame, adding: "I don't think this is particulary good for anyone."
It has been claimed that Mr Scappaticci was one of the IRA's key men in tracking down informers who were later interrogated, tortured and shot dead.
He was also alleged to have tipped off security chiefs involved in the undercover operation which resulted in three members of the Provisional IRA being gunned down by the SAS in Gibraltar in 1987.
Commenting on the leaks, Mr Kelly said: "If you put it [the allegations] alongside a number of stories which actually appeared today as well as at the weekend - for instance the allegations by [loyalist murderer] Michael Stone about collusion with the military and police over the last 30 years and ... a very large story about the UVF and their collusion, in particular centred around Girdwood Barracks ... and ally that to the Stevens Inquiry, I think that the common denominator in all of that is that British forces intelligence has been involved in all of this and has been involved in killing citizens over the last 30 years."
But former Ulster Unionist Party security spokesman Lord Maginnis, who served as a Special Branch officer for 12 years, pointed the finger of blame for the allegations at the IRA.
But he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "If you are a republican and in the IRA and you want to discredit the government, you feed this story with the names and we all read it in our papers.
He added: "What surprises me about this supposed 'Stakeknife' is that the day before yesterday nobody knew about him - I had never heard of him - and yesterday there are pages after pages of the minutest detail being revealed to the public.
"I begin to wonder in whose interest would this story be?"
Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens who conducted three inquiries alleged collusion between security forces and loyalist paramilitaries yesterday confirmed he wanted to speak to 'Stakeknife' about claims that innocent people were allowed to die in order to maintain his cover.
Additional reporting PA