“There was suspicion among some of the volunteers I spoke to,” Jonathan Trigg said
Martin McGuinness
Today at 07:40
Martin McGuinness never worked as an agent for the British state – that’s the view of a former British soldier who has written a book on the Sinn Féin chief.
In his latest book Death In Derry, author and historian Jonathan Trigg said there is “not a shred of evidence” that the former Deputy First Minister was a state agent.
Rumour and suspicion have swirled round McGuinness for decades amid speculation that the British had a “superspy’’ at the top of the republican movement.
Martin McGuinness takes aim – he was the driving force behind the IRA campaign in Derry
For Trigg, McGuinness was the ultimate urban guerilla commander, utterly dedicated to the cause, a diehard member of the IRA who eventually recognised that armed insurrection would not achieve their goals.
Trigg interviewed former IRA members and members of the security forces who fought in the streets of Derry – a campaign where McGuinness was in complete control.
Old rivals McGuinness and Ian Paisley struck up a real friendship and were christened the Chuckle Brothers
“There was suspicion among some of the volunteers I spoke to,” he said last week. “Why was his house not being searched like mine, where are all the Libyan weapons we’ve been promised and so on, but in all my research I did not discover a single shred of evidence that would suggest he was anything other than a dedicated republican.
“I would describe him as flinty, tough, a hard man, ruthless even, together with (Gerry) Adams he was a formidable driving force in republicanism – one the politician, the other the army man.”
McGuiness and Gerry Adams were always aligned on strategy
The book traces Derry IRA’s war against the British through the experiences of McGuinness who became head of the Provisional’s Northern Command.
From a teenage assistant working in Doherty’s Butchers and throwing stones at the army, he rose to the top of the terror organisation and ultimately to the corridors of power at Stormont.
As OC of the IRA’s Derry Brigade he was one of the key figures in the conflict. Front and centre, he never shied away from the spotlight, proudly declaring his membership of the organisation in an Irish court when others were strenuously denying their own involvement.
His domination of the Derry Brigade was unique, with every other IRA unit of any significance led by men who came and went as death, prison or retirement took them off the stage. But not so in Derry.
Martin McGuinness passing the SF baton to Michelle O’Neill
Trigg believes suspicion that he was an agent lay in the channels of communication between the IRA and the British which stretch back to the early seventies.
“1972 was a key year, we had Bloody Sunday and it was the worst year in terms of loss of life during the Troubles, back then the IRA called it the Year of Victory.
The famous handshake with Queen Elizabeth
“They thought they would drive the British into the sea, but when it didn’t happen and it was clear the British weren’t going to leave, McGuinness and others, notably Adams, realised there had to be a plan B. It was the start of what we would know as the peace process.
“Sadly it was to take decades. When you’re fighting an insurgency such as the British did with the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya and the US in Vietnam, it takes a very long time. The British came here thinking they could quell everything quickly.”
Jonathan Trigg
Bloody Sunday, when British paratroopers murdered 14 unarmed civilians, was to prove the watershed moment.
“It changed everything – up to then the situation was relatively contained. The battalion I served with had been the resident battalion in Derry. I only discovered this recently because no one talks about it.
“The soldiers had been there for some time, they knew the city and they knew the players. There was a lot of what they called ‘friendly rioting’ – throwing stones and bottles – but after coming off duty, the boys would go for a pint in the Bogside Inn!”
McGuinness at an IRA press conference in 1972
He said it all changed when his old battalion were ordered out of the city and the Paras were brought in.
“The command thought they were being too soft on the locals and sent in the Paras,” Trigg said.
Had the original unit been allowed to remain, he believes Bloody Sunday would not have happened.
“It rejuvenated the IRA campaign and McGuinness was in the thick of it.”
McGuinness’ strategy included a bombing campaign against commercial targets that reduced the city centre to rubble.
The aftermath of the car bombing in Claudy
McGuinness tried to avoid casualties – it didn’t always go to plan. In July 1972 nine people were killed when two IRA car bombs exploded in the south Derry village of Claudy. No organisation claimed responsibility but it was widely accepted to have been the work of the IRA.
Trigg says South Derry IRA had been instructed by McGuinness to mount an operation that would “take the heat off’’ the Derry Brigade.
He said even as McGuinness realised armed struggle would not win the day they had to keep the campaign going as it was the IRA’s best “bargaining chip”.
Having published a book on the IRA’s notorious East Tyrone Brigade, he said former IRA members agreed to speak to him. Some are still living with what they went through and what they did.
Jonathan Trigg today
“They had a relevance when the war was on, all of a sudden it stopped, they live in communities that don’t have a clue what they did or went through. In many ways I have sympathy for them,” Trigg said.
He admitted his view of the man he was writing about changed throughout the process of the book.
“Here was someone who personified everything about the IRA campaign – hard, dedicated, yet went on to compromise so many things such as dropping abstentionism which was so important to republicans.
“I think he and Adams deserve a huge amount of respect and credit, their longevity to see out an armed conflict and politics is just phenomenal.”
Jonathan Trigg’s book about Martin McGuinness and Derry IRA’s war against the British
Death In Derry: Martin McGuinness And The Derry IRA’s War Against The British is published by Merrion Press priced £17.99/€18.99.
Gerry Adams back in court as BBC libel case continues
Shane Phelan
Today at 09:38
Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has denied under oath that he was the senior officer of the Provisional IRA released from internment as a precondition for talks with British officials about a ceasefire in the 1970s.
Mr Adams also told the High Court he had “no wish to speculate about who was or who wasn’t in charge of the IRA at any time”.
He made the comments during at times testy exchanges between him and former attorney general Paul Gallagher SC, who is representing the BBC.
Much of the questioning centred around Mr Adams’ alleged involvement in the IRA, something he has always denied.
Mr Adams accused Mr Gallagher of asking him to go on a fishing expedition as he was being cross examined on the fifth day of his defamation action against the BBC over a 2016 Spotlight programme.
The former Sinn Féin president claims he was defamed by the programme and a follow-up article on the BBC’s website.
Gerry Adams was continuing to give evidence in his defamation case against the BBC on Tuesday (Liam McBurney/PA)
Both contained claims by a man purported to have been former British spy within Sinn Féin and the IRA that Mr Adams sanctioned the murder of former party official Denis Donaldson.
Mr Donaldson, a former IRA man who went on to work as a Sinn Féin administrator in Stormont, was shot dead at a remote cottage in Glenties, Co Donegal in April 2006, four months after it was revealed he had been spying for police and MI5 since the 1980s.
Mr Adams has denied any knowledge or role in the killing.
The BBC denies defaming him and says the programme was put out in good faith and during the course of discussion on a subject of public and vital interest. It argues the broadcast and the subsequent online article were fair, reasonable and in the public interest.
During the second day of his cross-examination, Mr Adams was asked about talks with British officials in 1972, attended by him and senior IRA figure Daithí Ó Conaill.
Mr Gallagher put it to him that Philip Woodfield, the deputy under-secretary at the Northern Ireland Office, had believed he was dealing with representatives of the IRA at the meeting.
“That is a matter for him. I have made my position clear,” said Mr Adams.
“He was told myself and Daithí Ó Conaill were there in our capacity as Sinn Féin personnel.”
Mr Gallagher referred to a book, The Freedom Struggle, published by the IRA in the 1970s.
The book said that among the IRA’s preconditions for the 1972 meeting taking place was the immediate release of a senior officer of the IRA’s Belfast Brigade from internment.
“I suggest to you Mr Adams that is a reference to your release from internment for the purposes of the talks,” Mr Gallagher said.
Mr Adams replied: “Well it doesn’t say that. There may well have been a senior officer of the Belfast Brigade released at that time. It wasn’t me.”
Asked by Mr Gallagher who else the book might have been referring to if it wasn’t him, Mr Adams said: “I am not prepared to speculate about the status of IRA volunteers, senior or otherwise, released or otherwise.”
Mr Gallagher asked the question again.
“I am not asking you to speculate. I will ask you one final time. Do you know of any senior officer released from internment at that time for the purposes of those talks?” the barrister said.
“I have given you my answer,” Mr Adams responded.
“And is the answer ‘no’?” asked Mr Gallagher.
“Take me at my word. I am not prepared to speculate about membership of the IRA.”
Persevering in Hope with Easter’s light amid war, unrest and renewal.
Easter is a reminder to nurture the green shoots of reconciliation and peace, say the Archbishops of Armagh in a message for Holy Week and Easter
Archbishops of Armagh John McDowell (Church of Ireland), pictured left, and Eamon Martin (Catholic) in Washington DC for St Patrick’s Day
By Archbishop John McDowell and Archbishop Eamon Martin
April 17, 2025 at 6:00am BST.
In his gospel account of the resurrection, the evangelist St Luke tells us it was very early in the morning “at the first sign of dawn” when the women discovered that the stone had been rolled way from the tomb of Jesus.
Although they had left home in darkness and grief, by sunrise the women were witnessing with joy to the resurrection, and sharing the Good News, “Christòs anésti, Christ is risen!”
The recent warm spell has brought out the best in springtime and helped to raise our spirits in time for Easter. To see the trees bursting into life and the green shoots of spring flowers everywhere lifts our hearts, and reminds us of the promise and hope of new life after the dark sleep of winter.
Of course, even in the midst of spring, it is difficult to escape the reality that the world is currently experiencing a high level of instability and uncertainty. The darkness of war and violence continues to rage; countless families are displaced, and lasting peace seems elusive as more and more countries divert resources from welfare to warfare.
The journey to Calvary is a path that people everywhere are walking this Holy Week. However the knowledge that Jesus Christ walked that path before us, and continues to walk that path today, is central to the message of Holy Week and Easter. Whatever cross we carry, we do so with the strength of God upholding us; with Jesus by our side, we can truly overcome even the heaviest cross, the darkest situation.
During our recent St Patrick’s Day visits to the United States, we were honoured to speak together at a ‘Faith and Law’ event for Congress members and staff on Capitol Hill in Washington. We were asked to reflect on the impact of faith on the peace process here in the years that have followed the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.
This opportunity allowed us to emphasise once again the importance of not giving up on hope, and of maintaining a strong Christian voice in the public square. We stressed the need to persevere along the road to deeper friendship, respect, tolerance and dialogue. Perhaps strangely, we were heartened by the fact that so many of the young adults we met on Capitol Hill had little knowledge of our Troubles; it reminded us both of how far our communities have come in terms of moving away from the darkness of violence, death and destruction.
The ongoing process towards a true and lasting peace here is offering renewed hope to our young people, many of whom have no recollection of the darkness of the past. Still, the work of peace-building is unfinished and there remains much to do.
Inspired by Easter Hope, St Paul once wrote to the Romans: “Our sufferings bring patience, as we know, and patience brings perseverance, and perseverance brings hope. And this hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).
As Easter people, both here on the island of Ireland and around the world, we must continue to welcome the ‘dawn moments’, and nurture the green shoots of reconciliation and peace.
This year Christians everywhere are marking the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Despite long-lasting tensions and divisions at that time between Christians of different traditions, the Council was able to find agreement on a common ‘Creed’, or statement of belief. They chose to begin that Creed by using for the first time the expression “We believe”, as a sign that all the Churches had found communion.
The anniversary of Nicaea is a reminder to all of us to persevere with Hope along the path to greater understanding and reconciliation. Interestingly, the Council of Nicaea also discussed the date of Easter – an issue that has sadly continued to prevent Christians in the West and in the East from celebrating Christ’s resurrection on the same day. But coincidentally, or perhaps providentially, this year Easter falls on a common date – April 20 – from East to West.
Persevering in Hope, in 2025 we can all truly acclaim together, “Christòs anésti, Christ is risen!”
The Most Revd John McDowell is the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland; the Most Revd Eamon Martin is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.
What are your 30 pieces of silver? Judas and the price of betrayal
What are your 30 pieces of silver? Judas and the price of betrayal
The tragic tale of Judas Iscariot and the good news of Easter
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci depicts Judas Iscariot with a small bag, perhaps to hold the 30 pieces of silver he was paid to betray Jesus…
By Rev Andrew Watson
April 17, 2025 at 6:00am BST
One of the most tragic details of the Easter story is about a man called Judas Iscariot. His name is synonymous worldwide with treachery.
It’s tragic because in earlier days in Galilee Judas had gone out with the other disciples, proclaiming the Gospel, healing the sick and even driving out demons in Jesus’ name. He had actively participated in the kingdom of God.
But Judas had a conflict of interest. He liked money. Perhaps he thought that friendship with the Messiah was a means to financial gain.
As Jesus gained more enemies within the establishment did Judas become disillusioned? Dreams of worldly prestige seemed to be fading so he decided to cut his losses and famously betrayed his master for 30 pieces of silver.
I’m reminded of a scene in the movie Braveheart where the king bribes Scottish lords to withdraw support for William Wallace with promises of titles and land. I wonder could we be turned if offered something sufficiently enticing? What would be our own 30 pieces of silver?
Remarkably, Jesus didn’t appear angry with Judas, just deeply saddened. Knowing everything, the Lord still knelt and washed Judas’s feet with the rest of them and when asked to identify the betrayer Jesus did so by offering Judas a piece of bread.
Christ shared His bread in a final gesture of friendship and grace as if to say, “Satan may be tempting you to do something dishonourable but you don’t have to do it. You could still choose a better way.”
Dreams of worldly prestige seemed to be fading so Judas decided to cut his losses and famously betrayed his master for 30 pieces of silver
Judas made his choice and suffered for it.
But the Easter story is not all bad, far from it.
Even as Judas turned to the dark side others were turning to the light.
Like the Roman centurion who witnessed up close Jesus’ suffering and death. This man heard Christ forgive His executioners and die, not with a gasp of defeat but with a shout of triumph, and concluded: “This man really was the Son of God.”
Or what about Nicodemus who had previously arranged to meet Jesus secretly by night? Now he’s coming out of the shadows to go bravely with Joseph of Arimathea to seek permission to give Jesus a decent burial.
Then there was the dying criminal on the neighbouring cross who, with what little time he had left, acknowledged his sin and found assurance of mercy.
As this intense drama unfolds we might well, like Pontius Pilate, be left asking: “What shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?”
Pilate’s decision would determine what happened to Jesus in the next few hours.
Our response to the question will determine what happens to us for eternity.
