Anthony McIntyre

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Background

Anthony McIntyre is a West Belfast Republican who spent 17 years in prison after being convicted of the murder of a loyalist.[1][2]

On a cold January morning in 1977 in Belfast's Crown Court, with my mother gazing on in stunned disbelief, Lord Chief Justice Lowry informed me that I would serve at least 25 years for ending the life of a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force. I laughed at him, prompting tabloid headlines of 'laughing killer jailed for life'.[3]

While in jail, he took part in the blanket protests which led to the 1981 hunger strikes. He also took a degree in Politics with the Open University, achieving a first.[4][5]

History

In 1995, McIntyre wrote a paper entitled "Modern Irish republicanism: the product of British state strategies" for his doctorate at Queens University.[6]

He notes the increasing ghettoisation of republicanism to a few areas of the North. And the Adams leadership's emphasis on co ordinating "the unarmed and armed struggles" boxed in Sinn Fein. Britain remained unconcerned about a peaceful campaign for Irish unity but wanted to make it impossible for Sinn Fein to publicly support the IRA. London knew that, without the IRA, republicanism "would - given the constitutional guarantee - no longer be a threat of any significance to the Union".[7]

In July 1997, McIntyre wrote in the Sunday Tribune that "significant section of (the republican) base are in no doubt that all-party blether can lead only to what Tony Blair has said it would - no end to partition; no British declaration of intent to withdraw; no united Ireland. Stripped of those elements, the outcome can have no identifiable republican content".[8]

In May 1998, McIntyre criticised the Good Friday Agreement at a meeting organised by the dissident republican 32-County Sovereignty Committee. Although he said he was not a militarist, he described the republican leadership as "a failed leadership", which "described each strategic failure as a new stage of the struggle."[9] He reportedly left the Republican movement as a result of the Agreement.[10]

In June 2000, McIntyre took part in the launch of a magazine, The Other View, intended as a forum for debate between loyalist and republican ex-prisoners.[11] In the same month, McIntyre was involved in the creation of the Irish Republican Writers Group, along with fellow former prisoners Tommy McKearney, Brendan Hughes and Tommy Gorman.[12] In October that year, McIntyre's home was picketed after he accused the Provisional IRA of the killing of Joe O'Connor.[13][14]

After the IRA began decommisioning in late 2001, McIntyre wrote in Parliamentary Brief that "the ease with which the republican leadership took the decision indicates just how devitalised anti-systemic tendencies within Provisional republicanism have become."[15]

He later said that "If the IRA wanted to get rid of its guns it should have given them to the Palestinians who are still involved in a legitimate struggle."[16]

At a 2002 seminar for American students, McIntyre stated: "what other organisation but the broad republican family could include cigarette smugglers and the minister for health among their members?" [17]

In October that year he wrote: "Issues such as the arrest of three republicans in Colombia, the Castlereagh break-in and the recent Stormont espionage incident have all generated an image - regardless of what material basis there may be - of Sinn Fein, the IRA and what Gerry Adams terms 'ethically indefensible terrorism' holding hands."[18] He suggested that the IRA would be transformed into some form of veteran's association.[19]

McIntyre was one of a number of former republican prisoners interviewed by Professor [[Richard English] for his 2003 book on the IRA Armed Struggle.[20] He attended the book's launch at Queen's University, Belfast.[21]

Following the exposure of Freddie Scappaticci as an FRU agent in the IRA, McIntyre said: ""This is potentially devastating for the IRA. If it's true that Stakeknife was the head of internal security then it's a major coup for the British. It would mean they have been steering republican strategy for years."[22] In a Times article, he wrote: "The suggestion that Sinn Fein leaders were conscious British agents remains unfounded but there is little room for doubt that the hand of the British state was on the tiller of the peace process that the Sinn Fein leadership came to embrace. And its grip was made all the firmer by Stakeknife.[23]

McIntyre later expressed doubts about whether Scappaticci was the agent known as Stakeknife. "I heard several names connected to Stakeknife, but never Scappaticci," he said. "But there's no question that whoever Stakeknife was, he helped weaken the IRA as a military organization and helped force it to end the armed struggle."[24]

In an interview with the Andersonstown News, Scappaticci stated: "I have read some of the comments that this Anthony McIntyre and other people have come out with. Obviously they have their own agenda, they are embittered people."[25] When the Irish Times reprinted this interview, McIntrye wrote to the paper stating: Not only did I never say that Mr Scappaticci had directed the peace process, I never even claimed that he was "Stakeknife". In every media interview and public comment that I made about this affair, I always made it very clear that I did not know who "Stakeknife" was or is, much less that he was Mr Scappaticci.[26] McIntyre's criticism of the Andersonstown News led to a legal threat from the paper's publisher Mairtin O'Muilleoir.[27]

McIntyre's home was raided by the PSNI in July 2003:

A large contingent of police removed computers, mobile phones and a digital camera from the house, of foot of a warrant issued under the Protection of Terrorism Act. The raid occurred following a republican protest at the Northern Ireland Prison Services at Stormont on Wednesday, during which protesters obtained access to an office and witnessed internal documents relating to pay negotiations.
McIntyre, who was covering the protest in a journalistic capacity, slammed the raid on his home.[28]

McIntyre was drinking with dissident republican Bobby Tohill on the night the latter was abducted by the Provisional IRA in 2004.[29]

In May 2004, he was one of a 20 strong group of disaffected republicans who called for the convening of "a congress of republicans, to determine where we are going" in the Irish News.[30]

In November 2004, McIntyre interviewed Hugh Orde, the chief Constable of the PSNI. He said afterwards, that "Hugh Orde is personable, witty and intelligent. He is a man of ability. He gave me no reason to doubt his personal honesty."[31]

In the wake of the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast, McIntyre suggested the heist was intended to support Sinn Fein's electoral ambitions in the Republic.[32][33]

In March 2004, he denied suggestions that he was an advisor to the sisters of the murdered Robert McCartney.[34]

Affiliations

External Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ A CEASEFIRE BUT STILL NO SURRENDER; The war may be on hold, but even young intellectuals find it hard to shake off their tribal suspicions. MARTIN WOOLLACOTT reports from Belfast. THE GUARDIAN FEATURES PAGE; Pg. 21, 3 September 1994.
  2. ↑ Objective of Irish unity abandoned, claims SF activist. by Suzanne Breen, The Irish Times, 24 February 1995, p.16.
  3. ↑ THE WAR COULD HAVE ENDED 20-PLUS YEARS AGO, by Anthony McIntyre, The Guardian, 22 May 1998.
  4. ↑ A CEASEFIRE BUT STILL NO SURRENDER; The war may be on hold, but even young intellectuals find it hard to shake off their tribal suspicions. MARTIN WOOLLACOTT reports from Belfast. THE GUARDIAN FEATURES PAGE; Pg. 21, 3 September 1994.
  5. ↑ Objective of Irish unity abandoned, claims SF activist. by Suzanne Breen, The Irish Times, 24 February 1995, p.16.
  6. ↑ Objective of Irish unity abandoned, claims SF activist. by Suzanne Breen, The Irish Times, 24 February 1995, p.16.
  7. ↑ Objective of Irish unity abandoned, claims SF activist. by Suzanne Breen, The Irish Times, 24 February 1995, p.16.
  8. ↑ Sinn Fein 'will accept interim peace accord', by Martin Fletcher, The Times, 22 July 1997.
  9. ↑ Former IRA prisoners warn against pact, by Suzanne Breen, The Irish Times, p.10, 16 May 1998.
  10. ↑ Exposure of mole 'may destroy IRA' Republicans dumbfounded as 'Stakeknife' is uncovered;, by Alan Erwin, The News Letter, 12 May 2003.
  11. ↑ FORMER ENEMIES OPEN DEBATE IN PRINT ON THE PEACE PROCESS, by Malachi O'Doherty, The Scotsman, 7 June 2000.
  12. ↑ Unionist leaders find it's easier to win the hard way, by Liam Clarke, The Sunday Times, 25 June 2000.
  13. ↑ Human right of free speech denied, by Malachi O'Doherty, 24 Belfast Telegraph, October 2000.
  14. ↑ THE WAR MAY BE OVER, BUT THE VIOLENCE STILL LINGERS ON, by Anthony McIntyre, The Scotsman, 3 November 2000.
  15. ↑ Sinn Feign; If anyone has been taken in by decommissioning, it is the republican grassroots, says former IRA man, by Anthony McIntyre, Parliamentary Brief, 1 December 2001.
  16. ↑ The Final Madness, by Martin Breen, The News of the World, 28 July 2002.
  17. ↑ SHOT TO PIECES, by Liam Clarke and Brian Dowling, The Sunday Times, 13 October 2002.
  18. ↑ Comment: Time has run out for an armed IRA: Can Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams achieve what the British Government has never been able to do? by Anthony McIntyre, The Observer, 20 October 2002.
  19. ↑ BRUTISH LEGION, by Ian Kirby and Martin Breen, News of the World, 27 October 2002.
  20. ↑ Comprehension is better than condemnation An English professor is an unlikely man for IRA members to give candid interviews to. But they did. Suzanne Breen meets the author of a new book on the republican movement The Irish Times, 18 March 2003.
  21. ↑ Academics out in force for history lesson, by Ian Hill, Belfast Telegraph, 20 March 2003.
  22. ↑ ARMY'S TOP AGENT QUITS BELFAST AS HIS COVER BLOWN, by Alan Erwin, Press Association, 11 May 2003.
  23. ↑ How Stakeknife paved way to defeat for IRA, by Anthony McIntyre, 12 May 2003.
  24. ↑ Doubts Swirl Around Tales Of 'Stakeknife'; IRA Member Denies Working for British, by Glenn Frankel, Washington Post, 19 May 2003.
  25. ↑ Jesus, what are my family going to think when they see this?' The Irish Times, 20 May 2003.
  26. ↑ "Stakenife" allegations, by Anthony McIntyre, Irish Times, 12 June 2003.
  27. ↑ BAD NEWS IS NO NEWS IN A WORLD WHERE SINN FEIN RULES, by Eamon Lynch, Sunday People, 29 June 2003.
  28. ↑ NUJ expresses concern over PSNI raid, Sunday tribune 6 July 2003.
  29. ↑ PUNTER SPARKS VAN RESCUE OF DISSIDENT, by Liz Trainor, The Sunday People, 22 february 2004.
  30. ↑ Republicans must make a stand for the ideals of their ancestors, Irish News, 31 may 2004.
  31. ↑ Orde: Sinn Fein will join policing structures, by David Gordon, Belfast Telegraph, 1 November 2004.
  32. ↑ Belfast bank robbery: Did maverick Provo unit risk one big final hit to fund their retirement?: Guesses abound as police set off more questions than answers, by Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian, 8 January 2005.
  33. ↑ Strategically induced crises pay rich electoral dividends for Sinn Fein, by Anthony McIntyre, The Irish Times,13 January 2005.
  34. ↑ Murder victim's sisters return to more hostile climate in Belfast: The McCartney family's trip to the US is part of a wider plot to harm Sinn Fein, some republicans allege, by Angelique Chrisafis, the Guardian, 19 March 2005.
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