When we look at SFIRA we must understand the depravity of their cult and the means they used to murder innocent men, women and children, this gives a vast insight into the despicable dirty world.
thread. cont.....

This was not a war based on religious values it was a dirty sectarian slaughter of innocent people, it is a long thread but will give you an insight into their players who planned murder without mercy or remorse of our loved ones.

1.These are highlights from the book “The Informer” by Sean O’Callaghan quoted by a senior Garda source as the most important intelligence in the history of the Irish State.

2. It charts his history as a member of SFIRA, his self-confessed murderous deeds and the actions he took to try and destroy the evil SFIRA cult. The inbred hatred he gained from his family, the Catholic schools and Catholic Church in Ireland was to form his actions and regrets.

3.Sean joined the IRA as a child at the age of fifteen in Co. Kerry and became an accomplished terrorist by the age of twenty.

4.Sickened by the sectarianism of the IRA, he made the decision to become an informer for the Garda, the Irish Police Force.

5.He was a high ranking member of the IRA, attending meetings of the National Headquarters of Staff, and a member of the National Executive of Sinn Fein.

6.He shares his story and the impact it had on him as a person, his family and his personal relationships.

7.He worked as a Garda informer for 7 years, he knew too well the fate that awaited him if he was uncovered, he ensured that many, many lives, both British and Irish were saved.

8.He exposes the sectarianism towards Ulster Protestants, racism towards the English & Scots and unforgivable cruelty to anyone who stood against the IRA.

9. Sean, was released from jail 6th December 1996, his thoughts were with the 2 people he had murdered Peter Flanagan and Eva Martin who were dead and could never be released.

10.Upon release he refused to go into a witness protection programme that was offered to supergrasses and informers, he still had much work to do.

11. Sean, was born in Tralee in 1954, he came from a strong Republican family who supported the IRA. Co. Kerry was a very fertile ground for the IRA.

12. Dan Spring the local Labour member of parliament had erected monuments to Ira members and the local GAA club was named after Ira members, and local housing developments were named after Ira members.

13.His father was a member of the IRA, his granny extremely anti-British and told him as a child that every policeman should be shot dead, and dug up and shot again to be sure.

14. Upon leaving school his father joined Fianna a boy scout type movement that prepared children before joining the IRA.

15. In 1939 his father was a full Ira member just before the 2nd world war, he was told “England’s difficulty was Ireland’s opportunity”

16. Many IRA members formed an alliance with Nazi Germany, led by Sean Russell who later died on a German U-Boat returning to Ireland to assist the IRA.

17. Worried about the IRA/Nazi collaboration with Hitler to attack Northern Ireland, Eamonn de Valara interned hundreds of IRA members, among them Sean’s father and uncle.

18. Sean went to The Christians Brothers school in Tralee, one of the teachers was the son of a TD and an important figure in the Republican movement, he organized the Easter Sunday concert for the Easter Rising, attended by local Priests and Garda member’s.

19.The Irish Catholic Church was the single most influential institution in daily life, from to meat on a Friday to removing children from unmarried mothers.

20. In the Christian Brothers secondary school, Sean objected to the dictatorial teaching methods and was made to stand at the front of the class, the teacher said “You are a disgrace to Ireland ‘s noble dead”.

21.The brothers lived in a world of Gaelic Games, the Irish language and endless songs about noble Irish patriots, and the treachery of the English.

22.Early in 1970 Sean and a friend at the age of fifteen approached a local shop keeper to join the IRA, he told them they would have to join Sinn Fein first.

23.Within weeks he was advised by Sinn Fein to go to an IRA man’s farm, under a large pile of grain was boxes of guns which they were given the task of cleaning them and sorting out the ammo to be sent to Northern Ireland a few days later.

24.After that he attended Ira meeting in local houses to receive gun training, after a few weeks then was sent out to recruit more young lads to join the IRA.

25.Some of his friends who joined up with him, drifted from the IRA and later joined the Irish Police Force.

26.A few weeks later he was picked up and taken to an Ira training camp halfway between Tralee and Killarney near the village of Farranfore at a farm owned by Mai Dalaigh who have previously stood for Sinn Fein.

27. At the training camp both weapons training, shooting and the use of explosives was carried out, there was approx. 40 at each training session. Over the next month’s many from Northern Ireland joined the training camp.

28. Sean was an experienced hand with a gun and learned quickly about explosives and quickly became the training officer in Kerry, a former British Army sapper who lived locally gave him training in explosives and how to refine them.

29. A local Gym was used for IRA meetings; the local Priest would preach to the new recruits on his experiences of Northern Ireland were British soldiers were regularly raping young Catholic girls. It hyped up the new recruits and justified the bloody acts of terror to engage in.

30. For all the hype it took the IRA sometime to murder the first British soldier, Gunner Robert Curtis on the New Lodge Road, this was followed by three off duty teenage Scottish soldiers, two of which were brothers, lured to their death in a honey trap killing.

31.Brendan Dowd from Kerry joined the IRA, he stole explosives from quarry’s he worked in, this was stored in the local farm of Tom McCarthy before being sent to Northern Ireland.

32.1971 saw internment introduced into Northern Ireland, many IRA members escaped to Kerry to engage in training camps.

33.While mixing explosives in his garden shed, a fire started and blew up the shed, it blew the windows out of his house, Sean ran to McCarthy’s farm, his IRA leader told him to make himself available to the Police, he was arrested and remanded to Limerick Prison at the age of 17

34. Sean, received a six-month prison sentence for handing explosives and was transferred to Mountjoy prison in Dublin.

35.During his time in prison William Whitelaw carried out talks with an IRA delegation, Seamus Twomey, Sean MacStiofan, Daithi O’Connaill, Gerry Adams, Ivor Bell and Martin McGuinness who will feature in later events.

36. Gerry Adams joined the IRA in 1965, his father Old Gerry had served a long period in prison after being wounded by the RUC after he had drawn a revolver on them, his mother was Hannaway from another IRA family in Belfast.

37. During the late sixties Adams was involved in street agitation, after the IRA split he joined the militaristic Provisionals, becoming a battalion quartermaster responsible for weapons.

38. At 22 Adams became Officer Commanding the 2nd Battalion, Belfast Brigade, one of the biggest and most active units.

39. Adams was not returned to internment and went on to return to adjutant of the Belfast Brigade under Seamus Twomey, Twomey invented the car bomb this was to revolutionize IRA operations.

40. In March 1972 one of Twomey’s car bombs went off in the centre of Belfast killing six people, two of which were Police Officers, two weeks later him and Adams struck with multiple bombs in the city centre, which became known as Bloody Friday, 19 bombs,9 killed, 130 injured.

41.The British Army launched Operation Motorman to regain control of areas controlled by the IRA, most IRA terrorists crossed the border to regroup. It was a huge blow to Ira operations.

42.Upon release from prison Sean resumed training IRA recruits at Mai Dalaigh’s, a large group of IRA men assembled including Tom O’Sullivan, Sean Garvey, he knew something big was happening, they made their way to Farranfore airport, to receive arms from Algeria

43. On the 3rd night the plane arrived but the plane could not land due the run way being too short, it was a huge cock-up. The plane was diverted to Shannon and off-loaded the first RPG7 rockets for the IRA.

44. Several weeks later Joe Cahaill arrived at an IRA meeting in the local gym to show off one of the RPG7 rockets, the new weapons were to be used in several attacks along the border, most unsuccessful due to lack of training on the new weapons.

45. A local man Maurice Prendergast had been promoted to the IRA’s finance department and sanctioning to carry out armed robberies to raise finance, pressure was coming from the new Northern command for the South to pay its share.

46. Brendan Hughes from Coalisland was sent to Kerry, he met with the local leadership who refused to obey his instructions and ordered him to leave the country. The Northern Command was furious and set off to Kerry, Twomey, J.B. O’Hagan from Armagh and Brian Keenan Kevin Mallon

47. Keenan had moved to Belfast and was regarded as the most efficient military operator, he followed a hard-line Marxist doctrine, he already had links with the Libyan government. The dismissed the entire leadership except Dowd and Sean.

48. Within a day the robberies started, Brendan Dowd was now the OC and the old leadership disappeared into early retirement. Sean was now asked to become a full-time Ira member which came with a £7-week allowance.

49. Within a week of becoming a full-time IRA member, Sean was sent to Donegal with Martin Ferris, Ferris had the reputation of being a drinker and local hard man, he was warned about his violent behaviour, his loyalty to the IRA was the only thing in his favour.

50.Donegal borders Northern Ireland is is an ideal place for recruiting and operational and logistical base, Pat Doherty was the quartermaster for the area, and responsible for training camps and bomb factories. He was closely associated with Martin McGuinness.

51. Doherty was born in Glasgow, it had a large Irish population and would later be used as a base for attacks on England, for this reason no terrorist attacks would take place there.

52. Most of the time in Donegal was spent in a bomb factory in Carrigart, bombs were made from Net nitrate fertilizer, the bomb-making skills would then be taught to other recruits in the South.

53. A new training camp was to be set up in Kerry on land owned by an Ira man called McGillicuddy, his son Joe who was only 13 yrs. old was to be used for running errands between the IRA training camp.

54. The Ira training camp was filled with Armalites, Garlands, Carbines, Springfield’s and RPG7 rocket launcher, the camp ran to the end of 1973 training over 200 IRA terrorists from Northern Ireland.

55. One of the trainers was a man called Dermot from Lurgan, and Jim Monaghan an electrical engineer from Dublin. He worked to perfect the remote-controlled bombs.

56. Sean said although he enjoyed running the training he was depressed by people from Belfast and their insularity and sectarianism, many behaved badly and were afraid of animal noises in the night, they seemed to think Belfast was the only place important.

57. In August a team was sent down from East Tyrone following two IRA terrorists blowing themselves up in Pomeroy Kevin McKenna was their leader and was quick to blame bad training and workmanship.

58. Martin Ferris along with a relative and a man from Fenit came to the camp for explosives training to target England under the control of \\Brian Keenan, a farmer Jerry McCarthy had turned his milking parlour into a mortar manufacturing plant.

59. After Christmas Sean travelled to Doon in East Limerick to meet Tom Sullivan who was now Chief of Staff of the IRA, next day drove to Co Leitrim to a pub owned by IRA man John Joe McGirl, Maurice Prendergast and Kevin Coen from Co. Sligo

60. The job was to make two tonnes of fertilizer based explosives every week, this was to be used in South Derry, East Tyrone, South Fermanagh, North Antrim, and West Fermanagh.

61. Among those in the bomb factory were Duggan, O’Connell, Butler and Doherty brother of Pat Doherty vice president of Sinn Fein who would be later known as the Balcombe Street bombers.

62. Another member was Francie McGirl charged and acquitted with the murder of Lord Mountbatten, he also took part in the kidnap of Don Tidey.

63. Sean returned to Kerry in 1974, he was instructed to go to Monaghan to an IRA pub where he met Eddie Collins, OC of the Mid-Ulster IRA and Stan Corrigan from Tyrone, with a plan to attack an army base in Clogher.

64.Due to someone being lifted by the Ruc, Sean was to take part in the mortar attack on the base, along with Kevin McKenna and Henry Louis McNally, all road to the army base had been blocked by other IRA men.

65. A group of over 40 heavily armed IRA terrorists were involved in the attack, Sean was in charge of firing the mortars, none of which hit the base, there was heavy gunfire and they fled after coming under attack from soldiers in the base.

66.The terrorist group fled across the border and listen to the radio, It was announced a Greenfinch had been murdered at the base, they clapped and cheered in the house at the murder of the young UDR Greenfinch.

67. Eva Martin was a part-time member of the UDR she had been murdered by an RPG7 rocket, she was only 28yrs old, she was the first female member of the security forces to be killed, her husband Richard who worked on the base found his murdered wife with a flashlight.

68. Eva Martin was an intelligent young woman and head of modern languages department of Fivemiletown High School; she had studied at Trinity College Dublin.

69. On 23rd August 1974 was to be Sean 2nd murder, he walked into a bar in Omagh and shot dead Catholic RUC Special Branch Detective Inspector Peter Flanagan, his father had also been a member of the RUC, a local man had provided the intel to shoot the Police Officer.

70. Peter Flanagan was murdered in cold blood and shot 8 times as he tried to escape the gunshots, Sean and a 16yr old Paul Norney from Belfast murdered the Officer.

71. The getaway car was driven by an IRA woman from Belfast, after they murdered Peter Flanagan her only concern was if they had killed him, they were lead in and out of Omagh by a local driving a scout car.

72. After the murder they went to a safe house to listen to the report on the radio about the death, the woman in the safe house was very uncomfortable knowing what they had done. They then moved to a house 2 miles away in Carrickmore.

73.The house in Carrickmore was used often for IRA activity, it was owned by a local Catholic Priest, he was known as a senior IRA activist, there was a second Priest in the house, the Priest blessed them with holy water as they entered the house.

74.The Priests made them a celebration dinner for murdering Peter Flanagan, the Priest said: “Flanagan was an abominable man who sold his soul to the Devil”. After dinner, the two Priest scouted the roads for 15 miles to move them out of the area.

75.Republicanism traditionally spoke of uniting Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter, but here we have Priests using their house to swear in young recruits, help murder people and then hear their confessions, this did not sit comfortable with Sean, he began to question his motives.

76. April 1975 Sean was in a flat in Monaghan town along with Kevin McKenna adjutant –general of the IRA, McNally, McAleer, Hughes and Fox, a report came on about a Policewoman in Bangor being murdered by a bomb, McKenna said maybe she was pregnant and we got 2 for the price of 1

77. In 1976 Sean moved to England with his soon to be wife Liz and worked on various jobs to support them Liz was a Protestant and the brother of a Scottish Orangeman, he was thinking of ways to attack the IRA from within and eventually moved back to Kerry.

78. It was 1979, the year Lord Mountbatten was murdered including other on the boat amongst them children, this was to have a profound effect on Sean, this and another event where the IRA targeted innocent civilians was too much for him to stomach.

79. He was later to find out from Seamus Hogan the Syrian Gov. laundered £2m via the PLO to murder Mountbatten, this was planned by Brian Keenan who had links with GRU, East Germany & Libya, delivered by Ivor Bell who like Keenan followed strong Marxist views.

80.The Mountbatten murdered had been planned by Brian Keenan and pushed through by Ivor Bell, like Keenan a Marxist, this cemented links with the GRU, who practically run Libya with serious influence from Syrians. Laundering the money through the PLO kept it away from Government

81.He contacted a person he knew within the Garda he knew there was no other effective way to damage the IRA other than informing from the inside.

82.He started to meet this Garda officer on a regular basis in a graveyard beside his parent house, the risks were enormous and he knew it would mean torture and excitation if he was found out to be an informer.

83. A day or so later he bumped into Martin Ferris, he had now been elevated within the ranks of the IRA and has already served two prison sentences, and agreed to meet up a few days later at Ferris’s house.

84.Sean asked Ferris about the bad reaction to Mountbatten murder and the slaughter at La Mon where 12 innocent people belonging to a dog breeders club had been burned to death by the IRA, Ferris’s said, “I don’t know what all the fuss is about, they were only Orangies anyway”.

85. How could Ferris a man from Kerry have so much deep hatred for people living in Northern Ireland that he had no experience living with, the answer lies in the hate-filled version of Irish History imbibed at home and in school.

86. Within a few weeks Sean was attending IRA meetings, and was in touch immediately with his Garda handler, he would pass on info about planned armed robberies the IRA had planned to bolster funds.

87. In 1980 Sean was asked to lift Pat Doherty from Donegal this was to restructure the IRA command away from O’Connaill and O’Bradaigh towards Adams and McGuinness, John Joe Donnelly from Ardboe in Tyrone was to the new IRA Director of training.

88. Training camps had been compromised in Mayo and Galway by documents discovered by Garda at a roadblock, operations would be moved back to Kerry, Sean was to assist Donnelly in the training camps.

89. Donnelly always dressed in a suit and tie with the persona of a business man, a new recruit Mick Brassil was to be used for transporting munitions to the new Kerry base, he would go on to be central to IRA weapons and bombs transport.

90. Brassil owned a company with livered work vans which would be useful to travel and remain unnoticed or out of place. The weapons would be stored across Kerry in the houses of local IRA sympathisers.

91. The first training camp was set up over a weekend, Sean informed his handler, the Garda raided the camp on the Sunday and arrested 6 people including a woman called Geraldine from Belfast. This initiated an inquiry within the IRA that lasted for months.

92. 1980 saw the first hunger strike by Sean McKenna and 6 others was called off as McKenna was near to death, this was to be followed in 1981 with another Hunger strike in the Maze where 10 would starve themselves to death.

93. Despite the propaganda success of the Hunger strikes, it heralded a period of frantic incoherence within the IRA, Sean was to take up position of the H-Blocks pressure group in Kerry.

94. June 1981 8 IRA prisoners escaped from Crumlin Road jail, 5 of the them made their way to Kerry to safe houses, Mick Brassil was again used to transport the terrorists to Kerry.

95. Doherty, Paul Dingus Magee, Gerry Sloan, Angelo Fusco from Belfast and Peter Ryan from Tyrone were all living in Tralee. Ryan was a very vicious man who relished in murder, he attempted to rape a German woman in Tralee, he was later shot dead by the SAS in Coagh Tyrone.

96. Joe Doherty was given a job by a local businessman, he began an affair with Mick Brassil’s wife which created a storm, he was moved to America and fought year of extradition for the murder of a British soldier.

97.Fusco and Magee lived quite openly in Tralee until Sean threatened his handler he was going to the press and they were then arrested, After Magee was released from prison again he murdered a Police Officer in Yorkshire.

98. I981 saw the IRA England department become active Mick Hayes named as the Birmingham bomber and quartermaster in England made regular trip to meet Brassil who transported weapons and explosives to England.

99. Hayes along with Owen Coogen were to use Brassil’s haulage business to transport the explosives, they would be hidden in mussels sent from Tralee to the English markets, Brassil reported back all had gone well and the package was delivered safely.

10 th October 1981 there was a van bomb at Chelsea Barracks and elderly woman was killed and 23 soldiers and 6 policemen insured, some seriously, Sean was furious and contacted his Garda handler, what is going? “Oh we would never trust the English Police with that information”

101.Hayes, Coogan and Brassil were all well known to the Garda and could have been wiped out in one swoop, yet the Garda never took any action to stop them, it may have been due to some bitterness that still existed at letting the hunger strikers die.

102.The IRA was awash with new funds from America following the hunger strikes, and Adams and McGuinness had elevated themselves and removed the threat from the old guard.

103. In 1982 Sean was to move to Galway, it along with Clare, Mayo and Roscommon was to be used for recruiting and robberies, training and senior IRA meeting Pat Doherty was OC of the Southern Command, there was a constant stream of people like Adams, McGuinness, Doherty.

104.Jimmy Jones was to run the training camps, there was little or no Garda surveillance even though Sean kept them informed at what was going on, Martin McGuinness Chief of Staff was to sanction all of Jones work.

105.Sean was introduced to Michael Browne from Fenit, he was brought on board by Hayes as he owned a fishing trawler, and a another man who was a coach driver who ran trips weekly from Tralee to London. They were both to be used to ferry guns and explosives to England.

106.Sean was to attend a meeting in Middleton Co. Cork attended by Adams, McGuinness, Bobby McNamara, Gerry Fitzgerald and Martin Ferris, Adams was extremely pushy at the meeting about the South not pulling their weight in terms of armed robberies.

107.1982 saw a bizarre incident between, Brassil, Pat Currie, Ferris and a Norwegian tourist staying in Tralee, he said he had assault rifles stolen from a naval base in Norway, they were in sealed boxes dumped in the Sean in Norway.

108.Ferris notified Joe Cahill to see what IRA leadership thought, he was looking money upfront, Cahill nearly had a fit in the SF headquarters in Dublin, Adams came down the stairs on hearing the shouting, Adams asked him to monitor the story and report back to him.

109.Adams wanted to know how things were on the ground and what they thought about John Hume’s, what about killing him Adams said, Sean told him it would be madness even though they were to blame Loyalists on it, Adams along with McKenna and Ivor Bell viewed Hume as a threat

http://110.At  a SF dinner in October 1982 Martin McGuinness told Sean and Ferris that himself and Adams were standing down as Chief of Staff and adjutant-general to be replaced by McKenna and Doherty to enable them to stand for Assembly elections in Northern Ireland.

111.Adams and McGuinness would both remain in the IRA, but would not be exposed to the daily risk of overseeing operations. Ivor Bell was to be Northern Command and Doherty Southern Command.

http://112.In  1982 Kevin McKenna in charge of Northern Command and England team asked Sean if he would go to England to plant bombs, The England team consisted of Owen Coogan from Belfast a close friend of Adams, Mick Hayes, Albert Flynn, Pat Murray, and Pat Magee.

113.Murray originally from Glasgow and a former British soldier with Irish roots was a sociopath, Magee was a loner, Hayes was described as the idiot for running about, he may have been an idiot, but a very dangerous one. Flynn was Hayes sidekick.

114.Sean had a meeting with Martin McGuiness about a business man who exported large plastic rolls from Libya, he thought he could bring weapons in with the plastic, Sean met him once before he went into hospital but never met him again.

115.Ivor Bell was now Chief of Staff, he was a Marxist and very close to Brian Keenan, Owen Coogan was in charge of the England department, it was so important to the IRA Bell also oversaw it, meeting was often held in Ballymun in Dublin.

116.1983 saw Michael Browne the boat owner was now involved in the arms smuggling from Europe, £2m worth of guns and explosives were purchased in Milan, they were to be moved to Le Havre where Browne would pick them up.

117.A plan to flood the Irish Republic with counterfeit £20 notes turned into a disaster for Ferris and was quickly dissolved, Kevin McKenna was of the opinion that kidnapping was much better for large scale funding for the IRA.

118.Kevin Mallon who had just been released from jail had the idea to kidnap Shergar, he sold this idea to McKenna and Bell, they kidnapped Shergar from Ballymany and took him to Co. Leitrim, the owners said immediately they would not pay any ransom, they killed him within days.

119.The England bombing team was to step up attacks, Owen Coogan was leading it, along with Hayes, Tommy Quigley, Paul Kavanagh, John Downey, Murray and Magee. Sean’s job was to bomb 16 English beaches packed with children, the plan borrowed from ETA.

120.The 2nd part of the plan was to bomb the Royal Gala at the Dominion Theatre attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales, Sean tipped off his handlers and they crashed in on a meeting in Dublin to arrest the entire Southern Command, all were quickly released on bail.

121.Weeks later Sean was to travel to Blackpool to meet up with Murray and Magee, he was told by Garda they were under surveillance and not to meet with them, they caught on they were being followed and retreated back to Ireland.

122.Sean met Coogan in Ballymun and was given a false passport and £2000 and was to travel to England with a woman and two small children as his cover, on arrival she was then to travel back on her own with the children. Sean then headed to Liverpool.

123.He met his contact that told him the equipment would arrive in 3 weeks, the next day he travelled to London to check out the Dominion Theatre, he was surprised at the lack of security and was able to check out the building unchallenged, there were only cleaners going about.

124.Sean contacted hid Garda contact and told him he would have to travel over to meet him, he met him a few days later in Liverpool, The plan was to tip off the media, he was shocked when the Garda contact said, there was no reason why the beach bombings should not go ahead.

125.Sean was furious at this comment and said “are you mad what happens if a child gets murdered”. The plan was agreed to release that a bomb team were planning an attack coming up to the general election, John Downey’s who was operating in England name was to be released.

126.Sean asked the contact to phone the Garda to ask about my whereabouts which would filter back to the IRA, this would ease suspicion, Sean then travelled to Paris, the story broke the next day in the English press and Sean then flew back to Dublin from Paris.

127.Sean lay low for a couple of weeks and was careful about answering questions he knew Ferris and McKenna where suspicious of everyone and were not easily fooled.

128.A few weeks later he met Coogan who debriefed him on who knew what about the England bombing, he said there had been a heated debate at a GHQ meeting, Bell was suspicious of him but surprisingly McKenna and Coogan backed him, he still was wary of McKenna.

129.If anything the event had upgraded his profile and he had been able to escape without compromising anyone, Coogan asked him if he was prepared to go back to England, he was told to get local police used to him disappearing for weeks at a time.

130.He then met Magee and Murray in Dublin, Murray was a head case who would head-butt women for not moving out of his way quick enough, Blackpool was mentioned and they had found out the Tory conference was to be held in Brighton.

131.The following year the Grand Hotel in Brighton was bombed killing 5 and injuring many more, Thatcher who was the target had a lucky escape.

132.A power struggle emerged between North and South Adams. McGuinness, Morrison, Bell and Doherty against the traditional Southerners led by O’Bradaigh and O’Connaill.

133.Adams was elected MP for West Belfast, one major problem for Adams was the 12-man IRA Executive that was split evenly between North & South, Money was a problem and the South argued too much money was being spent on Sinn Fein.

134.They turned once more to kidnapping, a seven-man unit led by Kevin Mallon attempted to kidnap Canadian multi-millionaire Glen Weston, the attempt failed miserably as Sean had tipped of the Garda, all IRA men were arrested.

135.Another blow was super grass Robert Lean named 28 people who were all arrested including Ivor Bell, Adams closest associate, this allowed Kevin McKenna to take the role of Chief of Staff of the IRA.

136.The Southern command was now split between Ferris and Dickie O’Neill, Sean pushed for Ferris to be given a greater role as he was not that bright and trusted Sean implicitly, and would give him good cover. Ferris had failed miserably in Cork and had much to prove.

137.Many of the personnel in the Southern Command had changed and it was excellent for Sean as he was in the thick of it and was able to pass on information, he was close to Ferris and in a prime position to know what was going on in all areas.

138.Another kidnapping was planned, Mallon, Burke and Hehir where to kidnap Don Tidey, things did not go well the hired car was not burned and it led them back to a local sympathizer who had hired it, Sean went to meet him and both were arrested outside his flat.

139.During Tidey’s rescue an Irish soldier and Garda officer were shot dead in a ferocious gun battle with the kidnappers, they all escaped among them was Francie McGirl who would later murder Mountbatten.

http://140.It  is believed after the Tidey kidnapping, a group of multinationals paid the Provo’s over £2m in protection money to prevent further kidnappings.

141. At previous meeting in Bundroan chaired by Adams, he says the IRA where in serious financial difficulties, it was taking 2 million per year to run the IRA, most funded by drinking clubs in Belfast, gaming machines and the Falls taxi association, extortion, tax swindles

142.The only area that was self-sufficient was South Armagh given their smuggling opportunity along the border. Plan where to be put in place to raise funds through rock concerts, and streamlining the IRA finances.

143. At the 1983 SF ard Fheis a spilt emerged between Adams-McGuinness faction and the old guard of the Southern IRA, in a few weeks Adams –McGuinness were in complete control of the IRA with the exception of the IRA Executive. The idea was to create a revolutionary council.

144.Adams needs to remove the main stumbling block to allow SF to take seats in the ROI to gain his political support. He pushed this hard by involving left-wing politicians like Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone and Jeremy Corbyn.

145.1984 saw Martin Ferris become the overall OC for the Southern Command, Adams and his cohorts were starting to remove people whose faces did not fit into his plan. Keenan still in jail in England and Bell were worried Adams was putting too much money into SF, not the struggle

http://146.In  1976 Keenan had put a squad together along with Hayes and Pat Currie to bomb the Republic and blame it on the UFF to increase the anti-Unionist feeling in the Republic. Hayes only told about this in the late seventies to O’Connaill in Portlaise jail

147. Ivor Bell had set a plan to bring in weapons from America, the skipper Michael Browne was to be used to transport them in his boat The Marita Ann, two members of the Murray gang who were supplying the weapons were to travel to Ireland and held until weapons were delivered.

148.Browne has a serious drink problem and Sean used this to his advantage, he warned Browne was a mouthpiece and was not safe to use, plans advanced between Bell and Ferris on arms dumps in Co Meath to store the weapons and all was put in place.

149.The Valhalla was to transport the weapons from Boston to be picked up by the Marita Ann to deliver them to the Irish coast, Sean kept the Garda informed of all the details.

150.A few days later it was reported 5 men on the Marita Ann had been arrested, Ferris, Browne, Mortimer, McCarthy and John Crawley the former Us marine who had travelled in the Valhalla. Sean and another person were arrested at a Sf office in Tralee.

151.Sean was released after 48 hours as Garda wanted him to prevent him going to the opening of a statue for Roger Casement who was captured trying to land weapons from a German U-boat in 1916, they thought he would be better out of the way as tempers were running high.

152.Within days an internal investigation began, Sean stuck close to Pat Doherty who has a strong dislike for Bell, When Bell seen coverage of the arms capture he said The others will not be pleased about this, referring to Adams et al, Doherty hated Bell and blamed him.

153.Bell was dismissed from the IRA in 1985, Doherty still wanted to prove Bells common law wife was a MI5 agent he wanted to kidnap Robert Lean who was now living in Tralee to see if he held the answers, nothing ever happened and it was left at that.common-lawan

154.Doherty now insisted Sean take up the role of OC of the Southern Command, Sean insisted it would be a joint position with Dickie O’Neill, they were tasked with engineering an escape of Ferris et al from the courthouse.

155.Sean was now asked to join the Sinn Fein National Executive where he would be able to gain more information on what was going on in other areas besides his own. On-board he found the topics of conversation dismal, always controlled by Adams, McGuinness, Doherty, Morrison.

156.Four of the twenty –five-member s of the Executive were also on the Ira Army Council, Adams, McGuinness, Doherty and Joe Cahill, as a result, SF and the IRA were and are extricable link The plan was to unite different factions of Republican into the SF movement.

157.Pat Doherty was to develop a black propaganda department, the idea was to plant stories about politicians and bug their phone to discredit them in any way possible and when the son of an Irish Government minister approached to join the IRA, this would make good propaganda.

http://158.One  suggestion was to bring this young lad to the border and shoot him and then blame it on the SAS, Sean advised the young man not to do anything until he contacted him personally, he never did and informed Garda to watch him

159.Bell tried to form a Coup to overthrow Adams and McGuinness after in wife had been suspended for putting about rumours and trying to undermine Adams and McGuiness, he tried to get Twomey’s support, but he remained loyal to Adams.

160.When McGuinness found out what was going on he suspended Bell and three others, Joe Cahill was to provide evidence of Bell trying to work with Libya behind Adams back to gain power and overthrow his leadership. Bell was to be court martialled.

161.Bell refused to turn up to the court-martial, Bell was to be discredited rather than be shot to undermine him as someone who was controlled by his wife, the plan worked.

162.Kevin McKenna was now Chief of staff and obsessive about his personal security, he was highly suspicious of everyone and Sean knew he would be his biggest threat. McKenna was very successful at hiding his position when Sid Walsh did not even know who McKenna was.

163.Towards the end of 1983 Sean became aware of a Sean Corrigan from Cork, he was an IRA supporter, he was arrested and agreed to work for the Garda he supplied low-level information over the next couple of years on people’s movements.

164.Sean was told to pick up some men who had just robbed a post office, he informed the Garda who arrested them at the pickup point, an investigation was launched by Twomey, Corcoran drifted away again from the IRA.

165.When Mick Burke took over he used Corcoran as a driver, when Sean met Corcoran he knew he was not right and asked the Garda was he working for them, they confirmed he was and Sean warned he was not reliable and would give himself away.

166.Another IRA man Pat Walsh approached Sean and said he thought Corcoran was working for the Guards, he again told his handler to remove this guy immediately.

167.Sean Corcoran began to ring the SF offices and leaving messages he needed to speak to me, Pat Currie who was in charge of security raised questions about this and that he was a suspected informer.

168.Corcoran said he had information on who set up the sting on the Marita Ann, and he would only pass this information to Sean, Currie was onto this straight away and informed Twomey. The IRA set Corcoran up, and the house got raided.

169.Corcoran was to drive Mick Burke to Martin Ferris farm to be interrogated, Sean questioned him for an hour before leaving to go to another meeting, when he returned Currie said , we have got ourselves a tout.

170.Corcoran was not supposed to be questioned until Sean returned, but he had panicked and said there was no army officer and he had made up the story about the Marita Ann, Sean tried to steer his answers but he confessed to everything.

171.He then made a taped confession, Sean tried to use the confession as a way to discredit the Guards but Doherty was not buying it, he told me to take it to McKenna, they met McKenna the next morning, he asked does he have children? Yes, eight, “Kill Him” was McKenna’s reply.

172.The following morning two men had arrived form Belfast, Currie knew who they were and they were taken to Corcoran, they asked for a driver and took Corcoran away, he was found shot in the back of the head in Milltown Co Kerry.

173.Corcoran’s body was brought back to Cork where it was dumped on the side of the road, the two men were brought to the train station to return to Belfast.

174.The murder of Corcoran has a huge effect on Sean, as the OC he was credited with the murder even though he had not been the one to pull the trigger, at a Sinn Fein ard comhaire shortly afterwards, Martin McGuinness put his hand on Sean’s shoulder and said “Well Done”.

In 1984 Sean was instructed to put a team of rural men together to go to Libya, he learned Gabriel Clearly IRA Director of engineering was already in Libya. Kevin McKenna told him a lot of new gear was on its way.

176. Sean met Joe Cahill at the Sinn Fein offices in Dublin, he asked him if the guy who owned the boat was still sound, Sean said he believed he was. Cahill then went with Sean to meet the boat owner, after the meeting Cahill was very pleased looking.

177. On the way back they met up with business man Malachy McCann the IRA Director of purchasing, the IRA’s finance person and Kevin McKenna the IRA Chief of Staff.

178.SF work was also becoming very busy, Adams wanted to draw in other people, John Hume, a groups called People’s Democracy, Danny Morrison said “You mean that group of drunk’s from The Rock Bar” Adams replied Danny just invite them.

179. The meeting took place and was attended by senior IRA figures, among them, Seamus Twomey, J.B. O’Hagan and one of the Maze escapees. The meeting finished after a few minutes as Hume would not allow them to videotape the meeting.

180. Adams knew Hume was critical to influencing Nationalists and providing him with opening’s in America, the challenge was to co-opt Hume’s influence and harness his respectability.

181. Sean was elected as an SF Cllr. In Tralee in 1985, he thought it was ironic that he OC of the IRA’s Southern Command, a GHQ staff member, SF National Executive a local Cllr and a high-level Garda informer.

182. In June Sean’s daughter was born and he decided to move to England, Adams was not happy about this, he knew after Corcoran’s murder things were starting to close in on him and he was sickened by what was going on around him.

183. He sent a letter to Pat Doherty stating his frustration at gossip about him being an informer and his loyalty to the cause, he learned later that Doherty, McKenna and O’Neill had all vouched for him and were keen to keep in touch.

184. He made contact with the English Police through his Garda handler who helped him set up a house and provide him with a job, he discussed the Libya job with him and thought the Policeman was already aware of what was going on with the Libya connections.

185. He continued to meet his English handler, then decided to go to Paris and then onto settle in Holland, his handler would meet up once a month to debrief him.

186. In 1986 Sean returned to England, he maintained a low profile, he settled in Tunbridge Wells, he kept tabs on any happening with the IRA, that Autumn the IRA split and Sf candidates would be allowed to take seat in the Irish Parliament, O’Bradaigh and O’Connaill walked out.

187. 187.They put together Republican Sinn Fein, this led to the formation of the Continuity IRA, to avoid any further split, and agreed to allow this as long as they swore allegiance to the IRA’s armed struggle.

188. The Provisional stepped up its campaign to stop people seeping away to RSF, this was facilitated by the huge arms shipment that has come from Libya late 1985 and early 1986.

189. The French had seized a large shipment from Libya in November 1987 aboard the Eskund, what they did not know was 3 shipments had already been delivered.

190. Sean was annoyed at this as he had passed on all the information about weapons coming from Libya, he could only put it down to poor communications between the different security agencies.

191.The key person captured aboard the Eskund was Gabriel Cleary the IRA’s Director of Engineering, the Garda carried out massive searches and recovered some of the previously landed weapons, but the whole security thing had been a disaster.

192. Sean was to make a momentous decision in his life, he was to hand himself in, the only way left to him was to give evidence against others to damage the IRA’s killing machine.

193. Eventually, on 29th November 1988, Sean handed himself into the police station at Tunbridge Well, he asked to speak to CID. He was to use the reason for handing himself in as he felt betrayed at being labelled and informer.

194. Sean had set things in motion with the Press and said he had handed himself in as he felt betrayed at being labelled an informer and wanted to clear his name. Two RUC Officers arrived from Belfast the next day and the game continued.

195. Sean then returned to Belfast and then onto Gough Barracks in Armagh to go over his past in detail and admit to the murders he had carried out along with other crimes. He also passed on information about Corcoran’s murder in the ROI, which would be passed to the Garda.

196. Sean admitted to the murder of Sean Corcoran’s but gave false information on how many times he had been shot, this would not match up with the forensic evidence and he hoped it would lead to an investigation by the Garda.

197. Throughout this time, he was being debriefed by the police and providing interviews to chosen journalists, he needed to keep the real truth from the IRA as to create confusion and cause further damage to them.

198. Sean was charged and sent to Crum Road jail, he was put in a wing with one other prisoner Michael Stone who had attacked an IRA funeral at Milltown.

199. Sean sent word to Gerry Adams that he needed a gun sent in to murder Michael Stone, this would throw them off thinking he was an informer, When Adams received the request, he was said to have shaken his head and said “No, no. God, no.

http://200.It  was believed there was a massive escape planned from the Crumlin Road and Adams did not want anything to set this back, not even murdering Stone.

201.Sean still kept up the pretence he was an IRA man and kept in touch with them, they were eager to find out what he was doing, meanwhile he was being debriefed by detectives on a daily basis, he remained in solitary confinement.,

202. In 1989 he learned he was not going to be allowed to give evidence against his former ex-colleagues as the “Peace Process” had already spluttered into life. Talks were happening between Adams and Hume and both Governments were anxious to keep that door shut.

203. Adams squashed rumours from the IRA in Kerry that Sean was an informer, Sean then requested to be transferred to the normal wings, this was denied.

204.Sean then decided to go on a thirst and hunger strike, this would also show the IRA he was not an informer. After 6 days he was transferred to hospital and received word his request had been granted.

205. He was returned to the Crumlin Road Jail and housed on C. Wing, after a few days he met with Sid Walsh who has since changed his name, he was the OC in the jail, he already had met him before on the SF National Executive.

206.Welsh at that stage did not believe Sean was an informer and spent almost a year discussing IRA activity with him that was happening on the outside.

http://207.One  of the more interesting conversations was the weekend of the Hillsborough disaster, news came on about the people killed and the conversation among the prisoners was 2Who gives a fuck, they were only Brits”, Welsh was not amused.

208. From that Sean learned from Welsh the plan for the escape, they were to put a bomb on the outside wall, and smaller semtex bombs smuggled in on the inside to make their escape, as many as 180 prisoners would escape.

209. Sean passed this information on to the Prison governor, he needed to be careful Welsh was not testing him and setting a trap, another prisoner Kevin McMahon on the wing had been arrested at a training camp in Kerry run by Sean and he was suspicious of him being an informer.

210. In a conversation with Welsh and McMahon Sean had inadvertently referred to the IRA as the “Provos” this was frowned upon by those in their position who always referred to it as the Army.

211. Among the other prisoner was Henry Louis McNally from Dungannon, he had taken part in the murder of Eva Martin, and shot dead a retired naval recruitment officer while walking his dog on a country road, he also shot the dog and said “dead dogs tell no tales”.

212. Sean asked McNally why he was carrying pout operations outside his area, he replied the security was so tight in East Tyrone they were using them to murder people in softer areas. Walsh believed the IRA’s best days were behind them and things were closing in on them.

213. Danny Morrison was another prisoner in jail at the time, he was charged with kidnapping another informer Sandy Lynch, the Ruc rescued him before they got a chance to murder him.

214.Sean thought Morrison was different from the others and had a sense of humour and could not fathom why he would still support bombings and murder in the pursuit of the movements goals, and his nickname was “Lord Chief Executioner”

215. Morrison spoke about the need to move towards peace, the republican struggle was being strangled, political progress could not happen while they continued to murder and bomb people, it was time to forma nationalist consensus involving the SDLP, IrishAmerica and the Irish Gov

216. The IRA had no intention of renouncing violence, it was confident it could insulate itself by making nationalist think it meant peace, it was a classic Trojan horse strategy.

217. Adams and McGuinness had looked down the road and seen slow defeat starring them in the face, they had decided to move early and make strength from their weakness. They could hardly believe the way other Nationalist leaders rushed to embrace them.

218. Sean’s journey continued from prison to prison this would involve being poisoned and further thirst and hunger strikes. Sent from Northern Ireland back to serve his time in England, in 1992 the game was up and he decided to come out as an informer.

219.Over the next few years he would provide stories to journalists to expose the evil within the IRA, and put his journey into a book.

220. Sean remembered a conversation he had with Sid Welsh in Crumlin Rd, the media had become part of their battlefield, the need to plant stories to demonize people prominent or otherwise, as a means to prejudice in the reader’s minds.

221.Welsh told him about a reporter raising the subject of Edgar Graham as being the most effective political opponent of Sinn Fein to Adams in a news briefing and he was likely to become the leader of Unionist, a few months later Edgar Graham was murdered outside Queens Uni.

222. On 6th December 1996 Sean was finally released from prison, he was lifted by Liam Clarke from the Sunday Times, over the next weeks he carried out many interviews and travelled to London, he spoke to politicians, he met Richard Martin whose wife he had murdered.

223. Sean continued to promote peace and relied on help from his close friend Ruth Dudley Edwards, he travelled to America to lobby Irish Americans not to support the IRA and got involved with many peace groups.

224.This is only a small part of Sean O’Callaghan’s journey from a 15yr old boy being indoctrinated into the IRA by inbred hate by his family, school and church to become a cold blooded murdered.

225.Sean regretted what he did, and had become, and tried to right that wrong, my first thoughts are with the families of those he murdered, Sean died in an accident in 2017, but he deserves much credit for the later actions he took, and the lives he saved.

I hope others will pick up the work for peace that Sean started.
Rest in Peace Sean O'Callaghan.