Ireland's OWN: History
23 April 2002
Spies to Tell of Republic Forays
—by Liam Clarke, The Sunday Times
Three former British agents have told the Irish government they are willing to testify at the tribunal investigating the Dublin/Monaghan bombings in 1974.
The agents, who met with Irish officials last week, have promised to reveal what they know of British army and intelligence incursions into the republic.
The three include an agent known as Kevin Fulton, who sparked the recent police ombudsman's inquiry into the Omagh bombing, and Willie Carlin, who spied on Sinn Fein in Londonderry [Derry]. The third man worked undercover in the West of Ireland for many years.
The meeting took place on Thursday in Iveagh House, the headquarters of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. The agents met Justice Henry Barron, who is heading the Dublin/Monaghan inquiry, and senior foreign affairs officials.
Barron has already met Sergeant John Weir, a former RUC officer convicted of murder, who claims British intelligence was involved in the 1974 bombings, in which 33 people died. He has also met Major Fred Holroyd, a former military intelligence officer who makes similar claims. Barron is understood to be particularly interested in the third member of the group, who has asked for his name to be withheld for security reasons. The agent ran a business in the republic for several years, using it as a base for spying on Irish citizens. He is currently in dispute with the Ministry of Defence which he claims left him high and dry after he had outlived his usefulness.
Along with Carlin and Fulton, he is a member of a group campaigning for better treatment, including pensions, for former British undercover agents. Fulton, a former British soldier from the south Armagh area, had been living in England for some months, and claims he is destitute since his identity was revealed in the Sunday Business Post and Republican News.
"I cannot claim unemployment benefit for fear of being tracked down by the IRA and dissident republicans, both of whom have issued death threats against me," he said.
Fulton claims that he was followed after his meeting with Barron and the Irish government officials last Thursday. He said he sought sanctuary in a police station near Newry, where he slept for the night.
"I am still in hiding in Northern Ireland, I haven't the money to go anywhere else," he said last night. "Special Branch men are being relocated after the Castlereagh raid but I have been named in Republican News and still people won't help me."
See Also:
- The 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings
- Army 'Link' to Dublin Bombings
- Compo Deal for Terrorism Relatives
- Irish Bombing Probe
- "Sovereign Immunity" Defence Planned If British Government Sued
- Spies to Tell of Republic Forays
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