Michael Oatley
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[Secret Intelligence Service|MI6] officer involved in back-channel contacts with the IRA from the 1970s to the 1990s.
- When Steele left Northern Ireland in May 1973, his contacts were inherited by his successor, another SIS officer, Michael Oatley, a subtle and independent-minded intelligence operative who within a few months of his arrival managed to develop connections with and around the IRA leadership to see whether it might be encouraged in the direction of political activity. Cautious probing had produced three different potential lines of contact to the IRA.[1]
