MI6 Recruiting Openly in Ireland

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release

Monday March 08, 2010 20:31

by éirígí PRO - éirígí

éirígí slam revelation that the secret British Intelligence service, MI6, is openly recruiting in Ireland.

Breandan Mac Cionnaith

MI6 Recruiting Openly in Ireland
08/03/10

éirígí general secretary Breandán Mac Cionnaith has said the revelation that the British secret intelligence service MI6 is actively recruiting in the Six Counties indicates a further ratcheting up of the British government’s policy of occupation by stealth in Ireland.

Within the past week, advertisements have been placed on the nijobfinder employment website seeking applications for “operatives” for the secret agency. The adverts for MI6, the most secretive and sinister agency within Britain’s intelligence network and whose very existence the British government refused to publicly admit until 1994, also indicates that its operatives will be located within the Six Counties.

Mac Cionnaith said: “This latest revelation that even more of Britain's sinister forces are being deployed in the Six Counties demonstrates the futility of the current posturing amongst the Stormont political class in relation to what will clearly be an impotent policing and justice ministry.

“In recent years, we have seen Britain gradually increase the levels of its secret forces in the North. First of all, we had the building of the MI5 base with its 400 plus staff located within the British army base at Palace Barracks on the outskirts of Belfast.

“That was followed by the deployment last year of units of the British army’s undercover Special Reconnaissance Regiment [SRR]. The secrecy surrounding the SRR is even greater than that surrounding the notorious SAS, with very little information about the unit or its activities being permitted to enter the public domain.

“Now, we are seeing the open recruitment by MI6 of agents to be located within the Six Counties. This amounts to the active deployment of the third branch of a tripartite of secretive forces, who are accountable to no-one.”

Mac Cionnaith continued: “Given the history of MI6, including its spying missions in the Twenty-Six Counties and the widely held view that its operatives were involved in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, this recruitment and open deployment will give rise to concern among people across Ireland.

“Just over a week ago, two of the most senior judges in Britain launched an unprecedented attack on both MI5 and MI6 for conniving in the torture of former Guantanamo internee Binyam Mohamed, lying about it afterwards and perjuring themselves in the courts.

“Armed with its government’s Official Secrets Act, MI6 will ensure that no investigative journalist, no human rights organisations, no lawyers, and no political parties in Ireland will be able to establish where these spooks are based, or how far their operational remit will extend across Ireland. Nor will anyone be permitted to know if MI6 is being located within the various PSNI and British army bases in the Six Counties.

“Such secrecy does not herald openness or transparency. It only heralds repression, injustice and the abuse of human rights. There is no place for any British intelligence agency in any part of Ireland, they should all be removed immediately.”

Meanwhile, the decision by PSNI chief constable Matt Baggott to initiate high court proceedings tomorrow to prevent a coroner who is investigating a number of shoot-to-kill cases from accessing the Stalker/Sampson reports into those same state executions shows that little has changed in relation to the nature of policing in the Six Counties.

éirígí general secretary, Breandán Mac Cionnaith said today, “Matt Baggott’s attempt to prevent full disclosure of the truth around the shoot-to-kill cases in North Armagh during the 1980's is further proof, if it were needed, of the continuity of policy from the RUC to the PSNI. Those who continually try to present the PSNI as some sort of friendly public service must publicly now explain why the PSNI is attempting to prevent the relatives of Britain’s notorious shoot-to-kill policy from learning the truth about the state execution of their loved ones.

“The PSNI, in attempting to suppress the Stalker/Sampson report, is clearly showing it is following a direct line of continuity from the RUC in hiding the truth about Britain’s dirty war in the Six Counties.

Mac Cionnaith added, “Baggott’s high court action due to commence tomorrow demonstrates yet again the political nature of the PSNI. This latest attempt to prevent the truth being exposed in relation to those shoot-to-kill cases also exposes the fact that changing the name of Britain's police force in the Six Counties has made little difference to how British policing in Ireland operates.”

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MI6 Recruiting Openly in Ireland