Sinn Féin's former director of communications has asserted that, while the exposure of Denis Donaldson as a British agent caused shock within republicanism, it would not deflect the Sinn Féin leadership from the main peace process agenda, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor
Danny Morrison, now a writer and political commentator, said despite continuing rumours that other senior republicans were about to be "outed" as British agents, the republican base was adopting a "stoical" attitude to the whole spying affair.
In recent days a number of newspapers have mentioned senior republican figures as being caught up in the speculation about IRA informers. A number of Belfast republicans were also warned by the PSNI over Christmas that the IRA suspected they had operated as agents.
Mr Morrison said the current rumour mill smacked of British intelligence "dirty tricks" and "trial by media".
He queried the grounds on which the PSNI contacted certain republicans to say they were coming under IRA suspicion. "If somebody with a squeaky voice rings up the PSNI and says we think so-and-so is about to be 'outed' as an informer, is that the reason the police call to that person's home or is there some other reason?"
Mr Morrison said people were simply given a letter warning them of the alleged danger and advising them to contact a police sergeant. But when a person's solicitor did so, no information was forthcoming to properly explain the basis for the warning.
"Unless there are grounds for suspecting someone I will not suspect anyone - even though I never had any grounds for suspicion about Denis Donaldson," said Mr Morrison.
He argued that in recent years, at least, Mr Donaldson - who was Sinn Féin head of administration at Stormont - would have been of little use to the British intelligence system. "There is very little divergence between the private and political positions of Sinn Féin. What difference did it make if the British secretly got a Sinn Féin policy paper from Donaldson one day and then got the same paper officially from Sinn Féin the following day," he said.
"Don't get me wrong, people were shocked that someone of the pedigree of Denis Donaldson was an informer. But at the same time it doesn't change the main political agenda," he said.
The political focus remained on whether the DUP would share power with Sinn Féin, on whether the policing issue could be resolved, and on other issues such as the on-the-runs legislation. The political leadership of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness would not be deflected from that focus.
He was confident the spying allegations and the exposure of Mr Donaldson as a spy would not politically damage the Adams/McGuinness leadership. "It's like blaming a woman because her husband is unfaithful. It's quite ridiculous."
Mr Morrison said he did not know whether the IRA had operated a spy ring at Stormont. He insisted however the argument that the Stormontgate raid and the consequent October 2002 collapse of the Northern Executive and Assembly, was part of a "securocrat" agenda carried great credibility.
PSNI sources have rejected this argument, saying that while there may have been Special Branch-type elements in the past, who worked to a destructive strategy, they had been mostly weeded out of the force.
"But we are not talking about a homogenous group of people here. There are still people of that ilk about," said Mr Morrison. There were still powerful elements within the police, MI5 and officialdom who wanted to say the IRA had been defeated.