Denis Donaldson shot dead
Slugger was first on the scene, quickly followed by the BBC.
Denis Donaldson came into the public eye last December after he admitted to being a British spy within Sinn Fein. For those of you unfamiliar with the controversy, the Wikipedia has an article relating to Donaldson and his role in Northern Ireland over the years.
While the first thought in most peoples mind will be “IRA hit”, Slugger points out that suicide should not be ruled out at such an extremely early stage.
Update 1: Bertie Ahern has described it as a “Brutal murder” and Peter Hain has said he is “completely appalled by this barbaric act” (see BBC article linked above).
Gardaí investigating reports of a break-in at the house where Mr Donaldson was living discovered the body at around 5pm.
…
The IRA has said it had ‘no involvement whatsoever’ in the death of Mr Donaldson.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has condemned the killing. He said he wanted to disassociate Sinn Féin and all republicans who support the peace process from the murder.
In a quote taken from the BBC News article, Gerry Adams delivers a pretty strong condemnation of the killing:
We are living in a different era, and in the future in which everyone could share. This killing seems to have been carried out by those who have not accepted that
Even with strong words like these many will take the view of Iain Paisley, who said:
eyes will be turned towards IRA/Sinn Féin on this issue.
Update 2: The Sunday World recently revealed where he was living; up until then he had been, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, hiding. Careless journalism for the sake of a scoop? Perhaps.
Update to Update 2: It has been brought to my attention (see comments) that The Sunday World didn’t actually reveal his whereabouts, just the county he was in; subsequent articles, such as the one linked above, named Glenties as a more precise location.
Update 3: Claims about Donaldsons hand made by Ian Paisley on British TV have pretty much been confirmed by Michael McDowell;
Irish justice minister Michael McDowell said he understood a neighbour had found Mr Donaldson’s body on the floor of his house with a gunshot wound to the head.
He said that he had been lying there for some time and was last seen alive on Monday evening by Irish police.
Mr McDowell said his right arm had been almost severed.
peteb
April 4th, 2006 at 11:13 am
I initially pointed out that suicide shouldn’t be ruled out, Adam.. but then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, closely followed by Secretary of State Peter Hain, did just that.
Denis Donaldson at IrishElection.com
April 4th, 2006 at 11:19 am
[...] Denis Donaldson “has been shot dead”. Ian Paisley speaking on BBC News claimed that his hand had been cut off. What effect this has on the peace process remains to be seen. Updates on: Slugger Adam Maquire [...]
Administrator
April 4th, 2006 at 11:22 am
As they did… thanks for pointing that out, it wasn’t on the BBC article when I read it first.
Parnell
April 4th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
“We are living in a different era”. That message, The lack of dygnity and respect for all human life is still not accepted by all.
Administrator
April 4th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Fair point Parnell; The only words reported from Adams are as follows:
“(I want to) disassociate (Sinn Fein) and all republicans who support the peace process from this killing”.
“It has to be condemned. We are living in a different era, and in the future in which everyone could share, this killing seems to have been carried out by those who have not accepted that,”
Now while it enough to say that he, his party and their army are not taking responsibility for the death he is certainly showing little upset about it.
The words “it has to be condemned” are quite indicative of that lack of emotion… I read it as “as politicians we would face criticism for not saying this” rather than “as human beings we are so appauled by the death that there is no option but to condemn it”
Murph
April 8th, 2006 at 8:56 am
Just to clarify a couple facts in relation to the ‘careless reporting’ comments. In the original report, the Sunday World didn’t actually say where Donaldson was hiding out, apart from describing the house and saying it was in Donegal.
The link above is a follow-up report from the Derry Journal, published two days after the Sunday World report, which names the area as Glenties. Many other media outlets, following up on the Sunday World scoop, named the area.
Administrator
April 8th, 2006 at 9:04 am
Many thanks for the clarification on that matter, I haven’t read the SW article and so couldn’t say what detail it had gone into.
The fact that Donaldson agreed to an interview would imply that he was happy with (or at least not in fear of) the implications that arose from it.