Denis Donaldson: Family attacks Irish government after inquest delay

Denis Donaldson was shot dead in April 2006 months after he was exposed as a Security Service spy

The family of Denis Donaldson, the ex-Sinn Féin official shot dead as an informer, has launched a verbal attack on the Irish government after his inquest was adjourned for a 26th time.

They accused Dublin of "turning a blind eye to mishandling of the case".

The murder of Mr Donaldson in Glenties, County Donegal in 2006, was claimed by the dissident republican Real IRA.

It happened months after he admitted working for the police and MI5 for a period of 20 years from the 1980s.

After the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Mr Donaldson, 55, occupied a key backroom role for Sinn Féin based at Parliament Buildings in Stormont.

Mr Donaldson's family said an inquest into his murder was adjourned again in Donegal last Friday and no date has been set for it to start.

They have issued a statement through their solicitor.

"The Irish State and others stand in the dock of public hypocrisy if they continue to criticise the UK government's approach to legacy while turning a blind eye to the mishandling of the case and the injustices which our family is facing.

"As a family we shall not accept this."

Mr Donaldson's family claimed that An Garda Síochána (Irish police), have repeatedly given the coroner timetables for progress "only to breach these without sanction".

"Our family's ordeal involves state agencies in both jurisdictions on this island in uncovering the facts about a criminal conspiracy which resulted in a conflict-related murder eight years after the Good Friday Agreement," they said.

"The public interest in establishing the truth is clear."

Mr Donaldson was shot dead at a cottage in Glenties, County Donegal

Last year, the Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland found the threat Mr Donaldson was under was not properly evaluated.

However, Marie Anderson could not conclude his murder could have been prevented.

"Our family's loss and our rights have been treated with institutional contempt," said the Donaldson family.

"National security does not justify this.

"All we are asking is that statutory agencies, and those in authority or oversight, do their job in accordance with human rights and the rule of law."

• Life and death of secret agent

An Garda Síochána said it does not comment on on-going investigations or on the decisions of statutory bodies in other jurisdictions.

It appealed for anyone with information to get in touch "to help us bring those responsible to justice".

The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is currently investigating a complaint made by the family.

It focuses on intelligence shared by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) with An Garda Síochána about the threat to Mr Donaldson's life.

Who was Denis Donaldson?

By the time the Troubles erupted in 1969, Denis Donaldson was in the IRA.

In the 1970s he was jailed for explosives offences and during his time in the Maze prison became close friends with Bobby Sands.

His double life began in the next decade.

He was recruited as an agent in the 1980s, at a time when he was becoming more prominent in Sinn Féin.

He was its candidate in the 1983 Westminster election in his native east Belfast.

Later, he travelled widely as a representative of Sinn Féin to the likes of the Middle East and United States.

Denis Donaldson pictured with Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness (left) and Gerry Adams

In what was dubbed Stormont-gate, Mr Donaldson was one of three men arrested in 2002 over an alleged IRA intelligence-gathering operation.

Three years later, charges were dropped on the grounds that prosecutions were not in the public interest.

Within a matter of days, Mr Donaldson admitted having been an informer.

He said he had been paid to work for MI5 and the police "after compromising myself during a vulnerable time in my life".

Four months later, he was murdered in Donegal.