'Our family’s loss and our rights have been treated with institutional contempt'

The family of Denis Donaldson have said it is unacceptable that the inquest into his 2006 death was adjourned for the 26th time.

Donaldson, 56, was murdered in April 2006 at a remote cottage at Cloghercor, Doochary, in a killing claimed by the Real IRA.

The Belfast man had admitted, just months before the killing that he had been a British spy at the very heart of the republican movement for 20 years.

The Donegal Coroner adjourned the inquest into circumstances surrounding the exposure and murder of Denis Donaldson for the 26th  time on Friday, December 8. 

“Every family who has lost a loved one during the conflict has the same heartache of an empty chair at Christmas time,” the Donaldson family said in a statement released by Conor Moylan of Madden & Finucane Solicitors, Belfast.  

“But for some, that loss is worsened by a hierarchy of victims:  one where a person labelled as ‘informer’ was selectively demeaned in life and is deemed in death as unworthy of any basic dignity - from any side to the conflict. In these cases, all sides to the conflict seem antagonistic towards the victim’s family asserting their human rights. 

“For the past 17 years, that has been our family’s experience. Our family’s loss and our rights have been treated with institutional contempt. 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.  

“Our family’s ordeal involves the 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. The public interest in establishing the truth is clear.  

“In March 2022, the Police Ombudsman found a ‘corporate failing’ under Article 2 of the  ECHR by State Agencies in the north in how they treated Denis Donaldson and members of our family. Now, State Agencies in the south of Ireland appear to be acting with the same  disregard for the rights of our family, most recently with the 26th adjournment of the inquest. 

“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 of Denis Donaldson and the injustices which our family is facing. As a family we shall not accept this. We urge others in authority to help us overcome this.”

During the hearing, the Coroner said “the body language” of An Garda Síochána convinced him to reject the family’s appeal to set a date for the inquest to start. An Garda Síochána have given the Coroner timetables for progress only to breach these themselves, without sanction from the Coroner. 

Over the years, other claims made by An Garda Síochána have gone untested by the Coroner and the bona fides of this Garda investigation remain unproven. During the hearing, the Coroner was also reminded by family solicitor Conor Moylan that legal submissions by Senior  Counsel on behalf of the family made more than a decade ago, that the inquest should be compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), still await a formal response by the Coroner and by the Irish State. None of this serves the public interest or the human rights of our family.

On December 1, 2021, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided that no case or charges would be brought against four people arrested during the investigation by  An Garda Síochána into the murder of Denis Donaldson. 

The four included an elderly man initially charged by Gardai for withholding information, only to have his court case thrown out. Another is a former spokesperson for dissident republicans in the northwest, Gary Donnelly. As part of the murder investigation, Donnelly has been arrested by An Garda Síochána three times and released without charge each time. 

An Garda Síochána claim that they are seeking the extradition of an individual from  Scotland to face criminal proceedings arising from their investigation into the murder of Denis Donaldson. 

This investigative “breakthrough” was provided to An Garda  Síochána by MI5 / British Security Services, coinciding with the Police  Ombudsman’s decision (2012) to reopen the investigation into the Donaldson family’s complaint. The person of interest to Gardai is reputed to be serving a  sentence for a conspiracy in Scotland and is alleged to have made remarks incriminating himself in events surrounding Denis Donaldson’s murder, while he was being secretly recorded by MI5. 

In February 2022, the Donaldson family wrote to request a meeting with Garda Chief  Commissioner Drew Harris. Two months later (12 April 2022) Mr Harris replied refusing to meet claiming that he had legal advice that any meeting with the  Donaldson family might prejudice decisions by the Director of Public Prosecutions  (DPP). 

Given that senior members An Garda Síochána routinely meet the Donaldson family in their legal duty to provide victim liaison, the Donaldson family have expressed dismay at Mr Harris’ decision and disbelief in the reasons for Mr Harris’ refusal to meet them. Also, Mr Harris continues to refuse to return the journal of  Denis Donaldson to the family, knowing that this is part of the family’s estate and property. It is not subject to the Official Secrets Act.

Given that An Garda Síochána and the DPP have adduced nothing of evidential value from Denis’s journal to help progress their 17-year-old investigation, it is past time for Mr Harris to return the journal to our family and for An Garda Síochána, the Coroner and the Irish State to stop obstructing the inquest. 

In March 2022, the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland publicly reported the results of an investigation into a complaint by the Donaldson family, first submitted in  November 2007. The Police Ombudsman found that the Donaldson family’s stated concerns about (in)actions by the PSNI in response to a heightened risk to the life of  Denis Donaldson were “legitimate and justified”. The Police Ombudsman publicly reported that there had been a “corporate failing” by the PSNI in respect of its legal obligations to Denis Donaldson and members of the Donaldson family under Article 2  of the European Convention of Human Rights.

In August 2022, the Donaldson family submitted a complaint to the Chief  Commissioner of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) about the role of An Garda Síochána in the circumstances surrounding the criminal conspiracy to expose and murder Denis Donaldson. The complaint focuses on the intelligence shared by the PSNI with An Garda Síochána during March / April 2006 about a  heightened threat to the life of Denis Donaldson. The Chief Commissioner of GSOC  directed an investigation into the Donaldson family’s complaint and since then, that  GSOC investigation has been ongoing.