An Garda Síochána facing legal action over Denis Donaldson investigation
The Real IRA admitted to shooting the high-ranking Sinn Fein official three years later.
The Irish police ombudsman, Fiosrú, said in a letter to the Donaldson family that it believed gardai had failed to fulfil a request for information necessary for its investigation.
Fiosrú told the family it would begin legal proceedings in Dublin Circuit Civil Court seeking an order for disclosure, RTE also reported.
An Garda Síochána declined for comment adding it did not remark on Fiosrú matters.
Enda McGarrity, the Donaldson family's lawyer, said the watchdog's investigation had taken place over the course of three years.
'We now understand that Fiosrú are commencing legal proceedings against An Garda Síochána arising out of a failure to comply with aspects of the investigation,' she said.
'That's a matter of significant concern to the family because the body which is charged with investigating the murder of Denis Donaldson are now not only being investigated, but failing to comply with investigation and that gives rise to family's wider concern that the State are currently not delivering an effective investigation.'
It comes after Gerry Adams won a defamation case against the BBC in May following a story in 2016 in which it was claimed he was linked to the murder of Mr Donaldson.
In Profile: Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams
The five-week trial centred on an anonymous source in a BBC NI Spotlight programme claiming Mr Adams had sanctioned the shooting by giving 'the final say'.
The 76-year-old, who had always denied the allegation, described it as a 'grievous smear' and accused the BBC of upholding 'the ethos of the British state in Ireland'.
Mr Adams was awarded £84,000 in damages by the High Court jury in Dublin.
The BBC reported the legal bill could cost up to £4.2m and is understood to be one of the most expensive cases they have ever fought.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Belfast Telegraph
24 minutes ago
- Belfast Telegraph
UK and Irish Governments to appoint interlocutor to carry out scoping exercise into paramilitary disbandment
An interlocutor appointed by the British and Irish Governments to carry out a scoping exercise into paramilitary disbandment is to be announced in the first week of August. The two governments said in February they would appoint an independent expert to examine the potential for a formal process of engagement with paramilitary groups.
Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
James O'Brien's apology isn't enough
When the story of how the British media responded to the October 7 atrocities is told, there will be a number of villains. High up on the list will be James O'Brien. The LBC host is smugness personified most of the time, but gets even higher on his horse whenever Israel is the topic, which it is frequently. Obviously. Things reached a new low this week. On Tuesday, O'Brien read out a text from someone called 'Chris'. This person said his Jewish wife had, as a child, attended something called 'Shabbat School'. There she was taught that one Jewish life was worth thousands of Arab lives and other racist, dehumanising concepts. 'There is a danger perhaps,' O'Brien said in his very serious voice, 'that we only ever hear one side of the dehumanisation and propaganda processes.' The problem, of course, is that Shabbat School is not real. No Jew has, to my knowledge, ever even used the phrase 'Shabbat School'. Jews do many things on a Shabbat – the day of rest observed from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday – including going to synagogue and visiting friends and family. They do not go to school. Indeed, Jews are not meant to do anything resembling work on Shabbat, including writing, making teaching or attending classes rather difficult. Consequently, children mostly go for their Jewish education on a Sunday morning. I remember attending these Cheder classes. We were taught by earnest, religious young women how to read Hebrew and about the festivals, but mostly we counted down the minutes until we could go home again. Some more liberal denominations do now offer Jewish education on a Saturday morning, allowing parents to sit in the synagogue service undisturbed. Does it seem likely that those teaching in such communities would be comparing Arabs to cockroaches, as the nonsensical text message claimed was happening? All this should have been an immediate red flag to both O'Brien and his producers. That it wasn't appears to suggest how keen that show is to air things that are anti-Israel and, ultimately, anti-Jewish. To make matters worse, the clip of O'Brien reading this message was pushed out on LBC's official X channel. It was later removed, but by that point the damage was well and truly done. A big-name host on national radio had aired a blood libel against the Jews, seemingly without questioning the information in front of him. That blood libel was spread on social media, where it was probably seen by more people than ever tuned into the original broadcast. It all puts Jews in the UK in danger at a time when simply sitting in a Kosher restaurant can be enough to get you harassed and attacked. Karen Pollock, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, told me: 'These comments are absolutely vile and it beggars belief that they were read out on air when they are clearly false and obviously antisemitic.' Reflecting on her personal experience, Pollock explained: 'I attended a Jewish primary school, Hebrew classes as a child and was immersed in Jewish education. Not once did I hear such vile assertions about another group of people – and I have never heard of anyone else hearing it either. I cannot believe James O'Brien and LBC thought it appropriate to promote this hatred.' Meanwhile, Andrew Gilbert, a vice president of leading communal organisation the Board of Deputies, called on O'Brien to be taken off air. He's right. This should not have been a matter of 'deputy heads will roll', with his producers taking the flak. While they certainly have questions to answer, O'Brien is the ultimate arbiter of what gets read out on air and he should not have been allowed back on the radio the following day. This being the UK in 2025, he was. Having avoided sanction, it wasn't until nearly two hours into his show yesterday that O'Brien said sorry. The LBC host said he regretted 'taking those unsubstantiated claims (in the text) at face value'. His apology is too little, too late. Over the last twenty months, Jews have endured torrents of hatred from all manner of media outlets. We couldn't even watch clips from a music festival without being bombarded with hate. This week was the nadir though. A well thought of and seemingly intelligent host read out, and took at face value, a message that would have made Goebbels proud. He then kept his job. It's a disgrace.
Daily Mirror
5 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Brit Cameron Bradford charged with drug trafficking in Germany after 'cannabis smuggle'
Cameron Bradford, a 21-year-old mother of one, was detained in Munich, Germany on suspicion of smuggling cannabis - she's the latest young British woman to now be charged overseas Another young British woman has been charged overseas for allegedly smuggling cannabis from Thailand. Cameron Bradford, 21, was detained in Munich Airport when she went to collect her luggage. The mother of one had travelled to Thailand on her own, according to a family friend. Bradford's family was alerted to her disappearance when she did not return to Heathrow Airport as expected. They then filed a missing persons report. It's understood Bradford, from Knebworth in Hertfordshire, changed her flight to Munich at the last minute - which German authorities were alerted to as a red flag. She could face around months behind bars in a German jail while the origin of the drugs is investigated. Bradford, who has a young son, will next appear at Munich District Court on August 6. She remains in custody in Munich until at least that hearing. 'We can confirm that we are conducting proceedings in this matter,' said the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office's chief prosecutor Anne Leiding, according to The Sun. 'The defendant is still in custody.' A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We are supporting a British woman who is detained in Germany and are in contact with her family and the local authorities." There are currently no details from the prosecution regarding the charges or potential trial date. Germany legalised cannabis for recreational use by adults last year, but this does not extend to non-residents. Bradford is the latest in a number of young British women to have been arrested in connection with drug-related offences. It emerged this week that Nottinghamshire model Clara Wilson, 36, was charged with a drug running offence after more than 34 kilos of cannabis were found in her suitcase at Barcelona's El Prat airport. It is not yet clear how she intends pleading and whether she will try to strike a pre-trial plea bargain deal in the hope of getting more lenient treatment. Under Spanish law the British model can be held for up to two years in prison before she has to be bailed, but well-placed sources said they expected her to be tried later this year. Brits Bella May Culley, 18, Charlotte May Lee, 21, and Isabella Daggett, 21, are all facing lengthy prison sentences in harsh overseas prisons if they are convicted of drug smuggling. Bella, 18, was the first hit the headlines following her arrest in Georgia. She flew into the former Soviet state from Thailand on May 11. She faces a lengthy spell behind bars if found guilty — which could be life if she receives a severe sentence. Little is still known about how she came to be caught at Tblisi Airport after her family reported her missing in Thailand. Charlotte arrived in Sri Lanka again from Thailand on May 12, allegedly with a stash of cannabis in her luggage valued at £1.2million which she denied knowing anything about. She has been in custody since she was arrested at Bandaranaike Airport. And Isabella Daggett, 21, is another alleged drug mule who is being held in a hellhole Dubai prison where she has not been able to shower or change clothes. Her case has been highlighted by her family after she was arrested in March, just five weeks after moving to the United Arab Emirates for work. She was working for a businessman doing internet recruiting for construction sites in the UK and he offered to send her to the Middle East for a similar role. But police in Dubai allegedly arrested her along with another man not long after she arrived in Dubai. Her family insist she was taken by police simply for being 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' and has never used drugs. And she has not taken a shower or even changed her clothes in months after being banged up in a prison in March, her family claims. Her grandmother Heather Smith told the DailyMail: "She was arrested with a lad, who was not her boyfriend, with whom she was staying because things had fallen through with another house. She didn't really like him that much. He may be guilty of something, but she isn't. We told Bella before she went to Dubai, 'you know the rules in Dubai, play by the rules, don't flaunt this, don't do that'." All the women deny the charges against them.
