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Stormontgate
Stormontgate was the controversy surrounding an alleged Provisional Irish Republican Army spy ring and intelligence-gathering operation based in Stormont, the parliament building of Northern Ireland. The term was coined in October 2002 after the arrest of Sinn Féin's Northern Ireland Assembly group administrator Denis Donaldson, his son-in-law Ciarán Kearney, and former porter William Mackessy for intelligence-gathering on 4 October 2002. Immediate repercussions Ten days after the arrests, devolved government in Northern Ireland collapsed. The raid involved "scores" of Police Service of Northern Ireland officers who entered the building to remove two computer disks from the Sinn Féin offices. Thousands of documents were reportedly discovered by the police in Donaldson's Belfast home. Charges dropped On 8 December 2005 the charges against all three men were dropped by the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service. Lawyers for the service said that "the prosecution for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denis Donaldson
Denis Martin Donaldson (1950 – 4 April 2006) was a member of the IRA and Sinn Féin. He was killed following his exposure in December 2005 as an informer in the employ of MI5 and the Special Branch of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary). While it was initially believed that the IRA were responsible for his killing, the Real IRA claimed responsibility three years later. His friendship with French writer and journalist Sorj Chalandon inspired two novels: '' My Traitor'' (published 2007) and '' Return to Killybegs'' (published 2011). Paramilitary and political career Donaldson had a long history of involvement in Irish republicanism. He joined the IRA in the mid-1960s while still in his teens, well before the start of the Troubles. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Trimble
William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a Northern Irish politician who was the inaugural First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002 and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He was also Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper Bann from 1990 to 2005 and Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann from 1998 to 2007. Trimble began his career teaching law at The Queen's University of Belfast in the 1970s, during which time he began to get involved with the paramilitary-linked Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party (VPUP). He was elected to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention in 1975 and joined the UUP in 1978 after the VPUP disbanded. Remaining at Queen's University, he continued his academic career until being elected as the MP for Upper Bann in 1990. In 1995 he was unexpectedly elected as the leader of the UUP. He was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreemen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It argued that the all-island Irish Republic continued to exist, and it saw itself as that state's army, the sole legitimate successor to the original IRA from the Irish War of Independence. It was List of designated terrorist groups, designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an unlawful organisation in the Republic of Ireland, both of whose authority it rejected. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, due to a split within Irish Republican Army (1922–1969), the previous incarnation of the IRA and the broader Irish republican movement. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unionists (Ireland)
Unionism in Ireland is a political tradition that professes loyalty to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, crown of the United Kingdom and to the union it represents with England, Scotland and Wales. The overwhelming sentiment of Ireland's Protestantism in Ireland, Protestant minority, unionism mobilised in the decades following Catholic Emancipation in 1829 to oppose restoration of a separate Parliament of Ireland, Irish parliament. Since Partition of Ireland, Partition in 1921, as Ulster unionism its goal has been to retain Northern Ireland as a devolved region within the United Kingdom and to resist the prospect of an United Ireland, all-Ireland republic. Within the framework of the Good Friday Agreement, 1998 Belfast Agreement, which concluded three decades of political violence, unionists have shared office with Irish nationalists in a reformed Northern Ireland Assembly. As of February 2024, they no longer do so as the larger faction: they serve in an executive with an Iri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, an open border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, its population was 1,903,175, making up around 3% of the Demographics of the United Kingdom#Population, UK's population and 27% of the population on the island of Ireland#Demographics, Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly, established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, holds responsibility for a range of Devolution, devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the Government of the United Kingdom, UK Government. The government of Northern Ireland cooperates with the government of Ireland in several areas under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The Republic of Ireland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Provisional IRA
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It argued that the all-island Irish Republic continued to exist, and it saw itself as that state's army, the sole legitimate successor to the original IRA from the Irish War of Independence. It was List of designated terrorist groups, designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an unlawful organisation in the Republic of Ireland, both of whose authority it rejected. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, due to a split within Irish Republican Army (1922–1969), the previous incarnation of the IRA and the broader Irish republican movement. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Harney
Mary Harney (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former politician and the former Chancellor of the University of Limerick. She was leader of the Progressive Democrats party between 1993 and 2006 and again from 2007 to 2008, resuming the role after her successor, Michael McDowell, lost his seat at the 2007 general election. She is the second longest-ever-serving female member of Dáil Éireann, serving as a Teachta Dála (TD) successively for the Dublin South-West and Dublin Mid-West constituencies from 1981 to 2011. She was Ireland's first female Tánaiste from 1997 to 2006, and the first woman to lead a party in Dáil Éireann. Early life and education Harney was born in Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe, County Galway, in 1953. Her parents, who lived in nearby Ahascragh, were both farmers, but shortly after her birth her family moved to Newcastle, County Dublin. She was educated at the Convent of Mercy, Inchicore, and Presentation Convent, Clondalkin, before studying at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secretary Of State For Northern Ireland
The secretary of state for Northern Ireland (; ), also referred to as Northern Ireland Secretary or SoSNI, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Northern Ireland Office. The officeholder is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The incumbent secretary of state for Northern Ireland is Hilary Benn. The officeholder works alongside the other Northern Ireland Office ministers. The corresponding shadow minister is the shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland. History Historically, the principal ministers for Irish (and subsequently Northern Ireland) affairs in the UK Government and its predecessors were: * the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ( 1171–1922); * the Chief Secretary for Ireland (1560–1922); and * the Home Secretary (1922–1972). In August 1969, for example, Home Secretary James Callaghan approved the sending of British Army soldiers to Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales were represente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain, (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State for Wales from 2002 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Neath (UK Parliament constituency), Neath between 1991 Neath by-election, 1991 and 2015 United Kingdom general election, 2015. Born in Kenya Colony to South African parents, Hain came to the United Kingdom from South Africa as a teenager and was a noted anti-fascist and anti-apartheid campaigner in the 1970s, and was convicted of criminal conspiracy for leading direct action events. Elected to Parliament at a 1991 Neath by-election, 1991 by-election, he initially served in Tony Blair's government as a junior minister in the Wales Office, Foreign Office and Departmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the office-holder must retain the support of a majority in the Dáil to remain in office. The Irish language, Irish word ''Wiktionary:taoiseach, taoiseach'' means "chief" or "leader", and was adopted in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland as the title of the "head of the Government or Prime Minister". It is the official title of the head of government in both English and Irish, and is not used for the prime ministers of other countries, who are instead referred to in Irish by the generic term . The phrase ''an Taoiseach'' is sometimes used in an otherwise English-language context, and means the same as "the Taoiseach". The incumbent Taoiseach is Micheál Martin, Teachta Dála, TD, leader of Fianna Fáil, who took office on 23 Janu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony McIntyre
Anthony McIntyre (born 27 June 1957) is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer, writer and historian. Early life and career On 27 February 1976, the IRA targeted Victor’s Bar in Belfast, identifying its doorman Kenneth Lenaghan as an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member. That evening a hijacked car pulled up to the curb and McIntyre, later convicted of being the triggerman, fired gunshots into the crowd, killing Lenaghan. He was imprisoned for 18 years, reportedly laughing as the sentencing was being read out. McIntyre served his term in Long Kesh, spending four of those years on the no-wash protest. After his release from prison in 1992, he completed a PhD in political science at Queen's University Belfast, and left the republican movement in 1998 to work as a journalist and researcher. Reflecting on his past, McIntyre stated in a 2023 interview: “I don’t have personal regrets — but I don’t think it had to happen, either”. A collection of his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bertie Ahern
Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, and as Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008. A Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011, he served as Leader of the Opposition (Ireland), Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997. He was also Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1986 to 1987, Tánaiste from November to December 1994, and Minister for Finance (Ireland), Minister for Finance from 1991 to 1994. Fianna Fáil led #Governments, three coalition governments under Ahern's leadership; he is the second-longest serving Taoiseach, after Éamon de Valera. He resigned as Taoiseach on 6 May 2008, in the wake of revelations made by the Mahon Tribunal over payments received from developers; he was succeeded by Brian Cowen. Fianna Fáil proposed to expel politicians censured by the tribunal, but Ahern resigned his membership prior to the expulsion motion. In 2016, Fianna Fáil announced that it ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
