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Anthony McIntyre    It never eases up in Gaza.

First hit by the Israeli genocide and now Storm Byron storm, each devastating in their own way, leaving in their wake a trail of destruction and human misery. 

The storm at least is impersonal. Blind, it does not see the victims it claims, deaf, it does not hear their anguished cries.  The storm is not cruel, merely nature working itself through the ecosystem. That sixteen Palestinian lives have been lost thus far - including three children from exposure to the cold, one only months old and born during the genocide - is not down to any cruelty on the part of the storm and very much down to Israeli malevolence. Zionist barbarism has left people defenceless and unable to adequately shelter themselves from the harsh elements.

Perhaps some preaching pastord will proclaim it the work of the Lord, sending yet another biblical plague so that the home of the Palestinians can be auctioned off to some Brooklyn Jew who previously never set foot in the territory. A New Yorker with no roots in Palestine can go there but a refugee family has no right to return. There is a callous cruelty about Israel that no storm, regardless of its ferocity, possesses.

At noon, we will gather again in West Street as part of Drogheda Stands With Palestine, probably shuffling from foot to foot and shivering in response to the overnight temperature drop. None of us will hum the cretinous lyric from the Bono-Geldof collaboration of yesteryear, Well, tonight thank God it’s them instead of you. You probably would need to be a millionaire or an evangelical pastor, to think there is a god worth thanking for having inflicted misery on someone else rather than on you.

As we leave here today to return to warm homes and shelter, the warning of the World Heath  Organisation will help propel us back to the same spot next Saturday; that thousands of Gazan families were:

sheltering in low-lying or debris-filled coastal areas with no drainage or protective barriers . . . Winter conditions, combined with poor water and sanitation, are expected to drive a surge in acute respiratory infections.

Meanwhile, our governing class - that can race with Olympian speed to oppose the renaming of Herzog Park in Dublin - ensures its feet are firmly anchored in quicksand when asked to sort out the Occupied Territories Bill. To get it to move will require a Storm Byron of protest, a tsunami of public anger. It is  deeply shameful that a government of a society forged in the crucible of anti-imperialist struggle can be so deferential to what is a Western imperialist mindset. Irish people more than many have an experiential understanding that Western tolerance for and indeed approval of genocide, is rooted in a long tradition of colonialism, imperialism and racism. UN investigator Francesca Albanese nailed it in her comment:

Palestinians aren’t counted as civilians, doctors, lawyers…they are killable and torturable just because they are Palestinians.

She also went on to lambast the British Labour government which is more determined to prosecute pensioners for opposing genocide than it is to preventing the genocide that is being opposed, capturing in her observations a lineage from Israel all the way back to the British state.

Israel inherited practices from the British mandate to enforce on the Palestinians, such as home demolitions and the systemisation of torture. It was part of a colonial architecture through which the British established their presence in Palestine then gave away a land that was never theirs to give . . . We can’t understand what’s happening today without going back to British colonialism.

And yet, what we get from the Fine Fail/Fine Gael duopoly are thoughts and prayers. 

Just prior to the storm reaching Gaza Israeli settlers made an intrusion into the territory. One invader said on video:

The entire land of Israel is ours, and after the terrible massacre we experienced, we need to understand this and internalise it and treat the enemy accordingly. Take territory, occupy and settle.

Storm Byron will most likely not return anytime soon. The same cannot be said of Storm Zion. It has never gone away.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Gaza Storm

Labour Heartlands ☭ Written by Paul Knaggs.

Graham Linehan’s long, punishing clash with gender-identity activists has taken yet another turn. After years of being hounded, blacklisted, and professionally destroyed for speaking out on what he argued were material, sex-based realities, the Father Ted co-creator has now been cleared of harassing a teenage trans activist online, though Westminster Magistrates’ Court convicted him of damaging her phone.

The case stems from an incident outside a gender-identity conference in London last October, where Graham’s path collided with 18-year-old Sophia Brooks, a trans woman born male. The court heard that Graham “deliberately whacked” her phone from her hand before it landed in the road. Graham denied this was intentional, insisting it was a “reflex response” as Brooks filmed him aggressively at close range.

Prosecutors attempted to paint Graham as a relentless online pursuer, claiming he had posted abusive comments about Brooks across social media platforms. Yet on Tuesday the judge dismissed all harassment allegations, ruling that Graham’s posts, while critical and uncompromising, did not cross the threshold into criminal harassment. It is a rare institutional acknowledgement that criticising gender-identity ideology, or calling out activists’ behaviour, is not in itself a crime.

Continue @ Labour Heartlands.

Graham Linehan’s Years Of Persecution 🪶 Court Clears Him Of Harassment

Muiris Ó Súilleabháin ✍ I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones, never having met Freddie Scap in his professional capacity as interrogator and executioner in chief for the IRA. 

I recall bumping into him in a crowded Emerald Bar, Dundalk, in 1993, and then a few years later in a pub in Belfast. These encounters were social and accidental and on both occasions my company, who would have been widely respected Republicans in their own right, left me in no doubt as to his standing within the movement.

The first happenstance was the more remarkable of the two, because Scap was with another “fallen angel” John Joe Magee. John Joe who was plastered was keen to impress the crowd with a display of his physique which was not that dissimilar to the wrestler Big Daddy. Having dispensed of his shirt and his vest in a packed bar with the arrogance of the untouchable, someone decided that flicking a lit cigarette butt at his obese torso was their idea of fun.

Things started to get out of hand, and it was only the intervention of Alex Maskey that prevented an awkward escalation into fisticuffs or worse for a young republican from Belfast. Order was eventually restored but it was the first occasion that I heard the watchword “ScapMageed”.

Timelines are important when dealing with the past and the truth, and I clearly remember both encounters. The first was on the Sunday night that the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis ended in Dundalk in 1993. The second was 96/97 when a team of people who had been on “interface” standby over July were having some much-needed pints at the end of an arduous few weeks. Scap was already in the bar, and he joined the small group that I was with. Just like our first encounter, I was in the company of people of authority within the movement, people who would have known if Scap had been stood down or been dismissed as alleged in January 1991. Quaffing pints and engaging in “bar talk” with persona non grata or suspected informers would just not have been the done thing for these boys.

The next time Scap entered my radar was the beginning of May 2003, when the cover up into his criminality, war, crimes and collusion was entering overdrive. Contrary to the brazenly absurd commentary by John Finucane MP on Kenova, the cover up at this stage was being instigated and managed by the hierarchy of the IRA. That IRA cover up continues to this day and remains the greatest barrier to the truth being established.

O’Mulleoir and Livingstone, somehow manged to get an exclusive interview with Scap which headlined in what its critics described as the Provo weekly. Their scoop detailed how Scap, the mild-mannered bricklayer and good neighbour had been maligned by the spooks and was aghast at the allegations that he was an informer or a murderer. The detail that Andytown’s Woodward and Bernstein failed to disclose to their readership was that during the stage-managed interview and photoshoot, Scap was in close proximity at all times to senior members of the Republican movement. Likewise, when Scap went public with his solicitor, he was once again shadowed by his IRA handlers.

Perhaps young John, MP, is blissfully unaware that the most widely used photograph of Scap, is the one taken outside the offices of the Andytout News. A photo taken on the day when the Republican Movement approved a Scap interview in the local Pravda, in an attempt to cover up his bestial crimes.

Mary Lou, not to be outdone by the stupidity of her northern comrade, has once again raucously called out the Brits. Kenova, she says, 'confirms that the British state played a central role in the murder of Irish Citizens north and south.'

Displaying a neck like a jockey’s bollocks, the President of Sinn Fein failed to mention that Kenova primarily confirms without a shadow of a doubt that the IRA also murdered and tortured Irish Citizens north and south. Kenova further verifies that the IRA shattered international humanitarian laws and the laws of war (Article 8 of the Rome Statute) by kidnapping, torturing and murdering civilians and its own members.

In committing what can legitimately be described as war crimes, the leadership of the IRA - those who unleashed the luciferous Internal Security Unit, those who dispatched young men and women to be “scapmageed” - are more culpable than the foot soldiers who carried out their orders. Scap, as inhuman as he was, could not have committed a single murder or a single act of torture without the imprimatur of the IRA Army Council.

Therin lies the rub; Kenova’s outcome was predetermined by the main protagonists from the start. I have no misgivings about Jon Boutchers sincerity or the lengths that his team went to in furtherance of the investigation. He gives the impression of someone who was genuinely moved by the stories of the families and shocked by the horrors that he heard.

The British establishment was always going to protect itself and likewise the IRA establishment was never going to cooperate with Kenova. The British and the IRA hold enough information to bring much-needed closure to all of the families concerned. That both establishments chose not to share their information with Kenova, says much for the future of legacy investigations in the north and demonstrates a sordid commodification of truth by both in their ongoing legacy wars.

The British authorities and Sinn Fein authorities yet again displayed little concern for the needs of the families, for victims and survivors. Their set piece responses to the publication of Kenova reflect the absence of either contrition for wrongdoing or any sense of guilt for what was essentially a joint enterprise.

The response by Relatives For Justice in particular was partisan and macabre to say the least, and their call to reattribute the murders of the IRA to the British was repulsive as it deliberately overlooked the role of IRA in the killings.

Thus, we see a strategy to protect PIRA’s leadership while simultaneously frustrating its fighters, not necessarily killing them. In the end the Northern Ireland conflict was ended not by the insurgents who were killed, but by those who lived - Colonel Richard Irons

Freddie Scappaticci was Stakeknife. Stakeknife was the IRA establishment and Stakeknife was the British establishment, in equal parts. He served both masters loyally. 

⏩Muiris Ó Súilleabháin was a member of the Republican Movement until he retired in 2006 after 20 years of service. Fiche bhliain ag fás.

The Dog That Didn’t Bark 🪶 Operation Kenova

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Nine Eight Hundred And Sixteen

 


A Morning Thought @ 2997

Tommy McKearney ☭ Donald Trump remains as unpredictable as ever and never more so than with his latest pronouncement on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.


Just when Europe’s leading advocates of endless war were anticipating increased US participation in the conflict on behalf of the Kiev regime, Trump disappointed them. The Whitehouse issued a statement indicating that it wanted an end to hostilities and according to widely leaked reports, on terms deemed favourable to Russia.


As always, it’s impossible to discern Trump’s reasoning for the surprise announcement. Nevertheless, his call has been issued with sufficient authority to have caused Zelenskyy to react cautiously and agree to participate in ceasefire discussions with the American envoy.

Although the proposed peace terms, if enacted, would seem to favour Moscow, this would in all likelihood, simply be a recognition of current realities on the battlefield. Ukraine is facing enormous recruitment difficulties and is losing ground before a slow but relentless Russian advance. Short of direct outside military intervention on behalf of Kiev, the outcome seems inevitable.

In effect, therefore, the Trump intervention may well be a pragmatic decision to influence the end result while his administration still has the political leverage to do so. Whatever the US thinking behind this latest play, the initiative has not met with the approval of all Europe’s leaders. Within hours of the Washington missive going public the German, French and British leaders; Merz, Macron and Starmer were convening a crisis get-together on the fringes of the G20 conference in South Africa.

While reluctant to confront Trump directly, the three leading members of the so-called ‘Coalition of the Willing’ said the US proposal required more ‘work’ and pledged their ongoing and uncritical support for Ukraine. Along with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s bellicose, ‘not an inch’ statement, it is clear that maintaining the conflict is firmly on their agenda.

Of note is the fact that the British Prime minister is facing a dire domestic political environment threatening his grip on office. Starmer’s failings are too numerous to list. Consequently, his personal popularity has reached a record low of -45 with many of his MPs talking openly of opting for a different leader. Faced with the real possibility of losing power, might Starmer be tempted to use his role as chair of the coalition to provoke a conflict with Russia in the hope of repeating a Thatcher-like Malvinas career saving manoeuvre?

While Starmer’s thinking remains conjecture there are other, concrete factors to take into account. There is evidence aplenty pointing towards a threatening scenario. There is, for one thing, the increasing expenditure on armaments in many Western European countries.

In 2024, for example, EU member states’ defence expenditure reached €343 billion, rising for the 10th consecutive year. In 2025, it is expected to reach an estimated €381 billion. Defence expenditure in 2024 increased by 19% compared to the previous year and by 37% compared to 2021.

Then we have tension, manufactured or genuine, arising from continuing reports of what we are asked to believe is underhand and or menacing Russian behaviour.

Over recent months many media outlets carried endless accounts of drones flying dangerously over a number of European airports causing major disruption to flight schedules. The Kremlin is routinely blamed, albeit with no evidence to substantiate the claims. Interestingly too, the RAF has offered to assist ‘Gallant little Belgium’ deal with the alleged threat.

Paranoia was further increased last month when Britain’s secretary of defence John Healey created another Russia scare. In a rare, televised press briefing, he claimed that a Russian ship, Yantar, was about to enter British territorial waters with the possible intention of damaging undersea communication cables. Healey finished with a belligerent statement that the UK had, ‘… military options ready should the Yantar change course.'

Reason aplenty, therefore, to be concerned and not only in an academic sense. It has to be recognised that the Republic of Ireland is moving perilously close to becoming embedded in this dangerous exercise. Abandoning any pretext of neutrality, both the Taoiseach and Minister for Foreign Affairs have accepted the EU’s aggressive position, that of effectively rejecting any compromise to secure peace. Moreover, it is reported that the Irish government has been represented at various ‘Coalition of the Willing’ summit meetings.

Taken together with its declared aim of ending the Triple Lock, there is every reason to fear that the current Dublin government is contemplating entering any conflict engineered by the war mongering coalition. We must, however, continue to work to prevent this happening. The recent election of Catherine Connolly points to the fact that there remains large popular support for neutrality.

No to any Dail endorsed coalition of the willing warmongers. No to a 21st century Woodenbridge moment.

Tommy McKearney is a left wing and trade union activist.
He is author of The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament.
Follow on Twitter @Tommymckearney

Trump’s Ukraine Gambit Exposes Imperialist Rifts And Ireland’s Perilous Path

Friendly Atheist ★ Northglenn officials say the church gatherings aimed at helping the homeless are creating more problems than they solve

Four pastors are suing the city of Northglenn, Colorado (just outside Denver) for passing new rules that prevent them from hosting lunch events for the homeless at a local park. They say the city is targeting them specifically and this prevents them from practicing their faith.

The allegations they make, however, don’t match the realities on the ground.

The pastors—David Baca of The Crossing Church in Westminster, Dustin Mackintosh of Next Step Christian Church in Thornton, and Ronald Brent Denny and David McCamish of Brave Church in Westminster—say in the lawsuit filed by the right-wing American Center for Law and Justice that they’ve been handing out lunches to the homeless and holding prayer sessions for years at E.B. Rains, Jr. Memorial Park, a 28-acre area with multiple sports fields, pavilions, skatepark, and a lake.

The pavilions were always open to anyone who wanted to use them (unless they were reserved in advance), and since mid-2020, the pastors have been meeting twice a week there for Bible study, prayers, and handing out meals. 

Continue @ Friendly Atheist.

Four Christian Pastors Want Their Faith To Override Public Safety Concerns In A Colorado Park

Christopher Owens ðŸ”– Underground writer Alexander Kattke is back with another piecing compendium of pieces looking at/imagining the mindsets of serial killers, victims, God, soldiers, writers and optimists, wrapped up in a literary style that is hectoring, confessional, delusional and disturbing.


All very much fertile grounds for exploration in the manner we’re accustomed to with Kattke and, unsurprisingly, he doesn’t miss.

In my review of Flowers Blooming Fire, I noted that there was a strong hint of Kathy Acker in the writing owing to the harsh, mechanised imagery of systemic rape and violence, and this is also evident in The Sacrifices. Take this segment as an example:

It is my great ambition to be the owner and CEO of a rape factory.
The sledgehammer lands at the top of the crown, splitting the skull into several large pieces with sudden exclamations of pain reaching its conclusion until finally silence. I strike over and over in pointless fury imagining I am carving a statue from stone or breaking through a rebuilt Berlin Wall for my freedom.
The child weeps and tries to climb out of the pit but I refuse to let go, and with my free hand I grab them by the left eye socket where my nails tear through the flesh and peel it back. The child lets go of their escape in a desperate attempt to affix their face like a beloved Halloween mask stolen by a bully.

Extreme? Yes. Brutal? Of course. But that’s the point of confrontational writing after all.

Kattke is never going to be a writer who appeals to a mainstream audience, but his writing remains brutal, honest, thought provoking and impactful. Kattke is all too aware of this as he notes at one point:

When you take into consideration the many writers who have died penniless or by suicide it is perhaps worth considering why the general public tries to steer people away from work that is considered challenging in this context lest you become warped into believing that you should die for a cause (of your making). It’s almost like a wishing well, this craft called writing, where you die hoping you have achieved some level of eternity. And if you don’t, then the craft becomes darker and darker still, until you utilize the power of the Word and manifest all of the memories into the form of a lethal syringe injected into the frontal lobe of the naïve and disbeliever, infecting their memories with yours where their consciousness destroys itself. Because being meta in this way is another way of turning the gun on yourself.

In this current climate, such an outlook to be applauded for its audaciousness.

Alexander Kattke, 2025, The Sacrifices. Independently published. ISBN-13: 979-8265253057.

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.

The Sacrifices

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Nine Eight Hundred And Fifteen

 

A Morning Thought @ 2996

Michael Phillips ✍ In a groundbreaking piece of reporting, Scappaticci was confirmed as the top informer . . . according to Kenova. 

A general even referred to him as the intelligence services’ “golden egg.” Well, sort of - more of a wink-wink, unofficial nod. Thank God for that. But when you think about it, there has been a flood of public announcements, articles, books, tweets and social posts all pointing to this supposed mastermind spy in the IRA. You’d almost think there’s a deliberate effort to dump everything at Scap’s feet because it serves a greater purpose. Was he really that good?

This whole episode brings to mind one sharp-witted observer during Derry’s supergrass trial of Raymond Gilmour, who declared on a local wall: I knew Gilmour. Thank fuck he didn’t know me. I’d wager quite a few volunteers were relieved that Freddie didn’t know them either.

The media, of course, flooded the airwaves for some time, declaring Scap the “Top Spy,” and now they’ve repeated the official/unofficial line that it was indeed him. Case closed, £50 million spent - now move on.

The truth, of course, is that Scap was an enforcer with orders to kill as many volunteers as possible and muddy the waters about who was and wasn’t a real tout. The strategy was basic at its core, relying more on fear and the hope that embarrassed families would stay quiet and meekly accept the “reliability” of the information.

The reality is that Scap was not, never was, and couldn’t - even if he tried - have been the golden egg. That title still belongs to another far more worthy individual. The protections awarded to him are epic, and they make poor ole Scap look truly on his owny own.

But let’s step back for a moment before discussing how Republicans could prevent a rerun of the Scap-trap—and, God willing, help the Brits save millions on the next Kenova investigation.

A little context first. I’m the least politically astute ex-POW among my peers. I’ve never read the GFA, and I avoid debates because I simply lack the historical knowledge and experience they earned over decades of taking the fight to the Brits. My POW status came from pure idealism. I distinctly remember such revolutionary notions being labelled naïve after my arrest. Sadly, there’s now a ring of embarrassing truth to the naysayers.

My path down that lonely road was carved in a youth spent knee-deep in British and Unionist discrimination, suppression, and political assassinations on my own Belfast doorstep. There was no brainwashing or coercion - who needed it when you could witness all that blood and mayhem on your way to school?

A few people know my updated views, which I like to think of as simply having matured. One recently asked if I was anti–Sinn Féin and - hold my pint - if I supported dissidents. I replied that, as a much much wiser person now, I couldn’t give two flying forks for either. I’ve got the T-shirt and spent the best part of 20+ years trying to untangle whether my efforts were in vain. The evidence was always there. Part of me still refuses to look in the mirror and accept the truth, even though the other part looks back with a cheesy “I told you so” grin.

Despite any misgivings about the past, I want to underscore that peace is a positive for the North, and the fundamental reason the GFA is irreplaceable today is that the tech world has been exploding (no pun intended). “Man-made” wars will eventually take the “man” out of it entirely - and that’s before we even consider how AI is about to rule the world. Literally. The armed struggle is truly finished, and any attempts to resurrect it are doomed from a thousand different angles.

Returning to the Scap-trap: I’ve no doubt history will show he was the fall guy. The other lad is slipperier than fish oil and more durable than Teflon. Better yet, it’s not even a secret who he is, though only a handful of people know the details. I even wrote about it in my novel Lily White. Informing is a complicated process, apparently, and if you’re worth your weight in gold, you’re protected accordingly. Poor ole Scapp fell because he had a taste for donkeys, which drew the ire of some righteous Branch men who took advantage of his unusual inclinations.

Lady Justice is a fickle mistress - something Freddie no doubt took to heart. If we’re to avoid a rerun of Kenova, more people need to come forward before it’s too late. Touts make colossal mistakes all the time, and in the past we can be forgiven for doubting our instincts. Fear and paranoia can make it hard to whisper a word in someone’s ear about that gut feeling concerning a certain person.

The Peace Process is here to stay, no matter how the dirty pranksters in MI5 and their Branch counterparts try to whip up new hysteria. History will judge the rest of us badly. Worse still, it may laugh at us for swallowing the Scap pill not once but twice - when they hang someone else out to dry for the real golden egg.

Fortunately, there are enough breadcrumbs that will eventually lead to the Teflon Don’s door. Let’s hope it’s long before he joins the ranks of our dead heroes. It’s never a good look pissing on the grave of someone who can’t defend themselves and then trying to convince the world he was a real bastard.

‘Say nothing’ is out. Get it off your chest and say something. Our reputations can’t sink any lower at this point. And if we can force more truth into the open, at least we’ll save the taxpayer a few million - money that could be better spent promoting Irish for the next generation’s real heroes.

⏩Michael Phillips is a former republican prisoner.

Scap Outed, Again

Event Announcement 🎤 A rally in support of Palestine Action hunger strikers in British prisons will take place this weekend.

Assembly Point: College Green, Dublin.

Date: 13 December 2025.

Time: 1400.


Palestine Action Solidarity Rally

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ This book was very well researched and also very palatable reading for the reader.


Easy to understand Sean O’Driscoll shows a brilliance for research, though the idea that somebody like the main character, David Rupert, is of a heroic nature is beyond me. Rupert sold himself to both the FBI and MI5 in infiltrating the so-called ‘Real IRA’ and their activities, including the Omagh bombing of August 1998, and the successful prosecution of the organisation’s leader, Michael McKevitt. 

Firstly, the Omagh bombing was an atrocity and not an act of war as some have claimed. It was not ‘collateral damage’ which can, but shouldn’t, occur when ordnance is dropped from 20,000 feet as this bomb was actually driven to its target area and hit its intended targets, civilians. Not to labour too much on the atrocity that was Omagh but merely to point out the organisation responsible for it was allegedly the ‘Real IRA’. This does not dictate David Rupert to be a decent fella because he was not, his activities as a trucker in the USA will tell the reader that, and he, to me, was the kind who would sell his own granny if the price was right.

David Rupert was a trucker from the US State of New York and in the course of his time this occupation brought him to the need of conducting some less than savoury deals. On his travels he met up with a girl called Linda Vaughn at an Irish American pub, The Harp and Thistle, who had loose connections with the Irish Republican group, the Continuity IRA and its political wing, Republican Sinn Fein. Linda took Rupert to Ireland and introduced him to several people connected to this organisation who befriended him and took him, foolishly in my view, into their confidence. It was not, however, this wing of the IRA which David Rupert was to infiltrate. 

On discovering his connections in Ireland the FBI moved in to catch their recruit. Promising him money which would clear his debts to keep his ear to the ground and report back to them, they were interested in the far more aggressive ‘Real IRA’ as were their British counterparts, MI5. Rupert agreed to spy for both organisations who were, in reality, acting as one against Michael McKevitt's organisation. It is amazing how a man of McKevitt’s supposed pedigree would allow a man he knew little about close to the ‘Army Council’ of the ‘Real IRA’! It turned out to be a very, very foolish and costly move from their point of view. The damage Rupert caused and evidence he gave at McKevitt’s trial resulted in the end of this organisation.

It came to David Rupert's attention that occasional joint operations were being carried out by the Continuity IRA and the ‘Real IRA’ with the former being very much the junior partner it appeared. This information Rupert passed on to his handlers whose real interest was the ‘Real IRA’ with a kind of watching brief on the Continuity IRA. However, this did not mean Rupert could totally ignore the Continuity IRA, just more importance was to be given to the organisation led by Michael McKevitt.

The perpetuators of Omagh were who the British and US were after and Rupert was to deliver. Sean O’Driscoll covers the trial of Michael McKevitt brilliantly and points out the number of days McKevitt’s defence lawyer, Hugh Hartnett, spent on trying to prove that Rupert and McKevitt never met. Hartnett spent eleven days trying to prove the two men never met basing his evidence on no photographs of them meeting being available as proof of such an encounter. Rupert held out and much valuable time was lost from McKevitt’s point of view by his team pursuing this avenue. 

Perhaps Hugh Hartmett would have been better hammering this point for a day then concentrating on the fact Rupert would perhaps do and say anything for money be it from the FBI, MI5, or both as was the case. This may have held more sway with the Judges in the Special Criminal Court as no jury was present that being the norm in this court. The result was Michael McKevitt was found guilty of the charge ‘directing terrorism’ based largely on the evidence of FBI/MI5 spy, David Rupert, the man McKevitt himself had allowed so close to the leadership of his organisation. In 2003 Michael Mckeitt was jailed for twenty years at the Special Criminal Court, Dublin, as the Irish Special Branch had made those interested agencies, along with the FBI and MI5, a tripartite operation.

Criticism of the book would be no index being available, though arguably not necessary, but it does make finding points much easier and the contents were not titled. The research into this work is second to none and the reader should find it an easy read and very informative giving much information not available in the papers at the time of the case. 

But who was David Rupert? An unknown trucker who was seeing an Irish Republican sympathiser, Linda Vaughn, whose connections to the Continuity IRA were moderate to say the least. Suddenly this unknown fly by night with a handshake and a howdy becomes so close to the leadership of the ‘Real IRA’ it begs comprehension. A worthy read for anybody interested in the subject or who might have heard the name David Rupert in the past. 

And what happened to Rupert and his wife, Maureen? He was handsomely rewarded to clear all his bills with much left over for shaking hands with the Devil. He could only have done this because those other disciples of the Devil were so incompetent in the first place in allowing an unknown so much access about so much when this man was a virtual unknown from the USA. To drink soup with the Devil use a very, very long spoon -  this is something Michael McKevitt failed to remember much to him and his organisations cost.

Sean O’Driscoll, 2019, The Accidental Spy. Mirror Books. ISBN Hardback 978-1-912624-28-7 Trade paperback 978-1-912624-18-8

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

The Accidental Spy

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