Book’s claim MI5 doctored Enniskillen bomb chimes with Dublin file from 1988
Allegation timer was ‘tampered’ with to damage the IRA’s image surfaces once again
Andrew Madden
A claim MI5 “tampered” with the IRA’s 1987 Enniskillen bomb is the second time the allegation has been made following the release of a declassified Irish government letter seven years ago.
Families of four of the 11 people killed in the attack have called for a public inquiry after the claim in Martin Dillon’s new book, The Sorrow And The Loss.
It says London and Dublin are “sitting” on classified papers, one of which relates to an agent who claimed MI5 doctored the bomb’s timer.
One is said to refer to an MI5 member closely connected to secret operations against the IRA, particularly the running of agents, who broke ranks.
“He complained that his agency knew, as it did about many IRA operations, that the attack on the Cenotaph was planned,” one paper purportedly states.
“He went further, making a claim which, if aired publicly in the aftermath of the bombing, would have been political dynamite.
“He claimed that MI5 tampered with the bomb’s timing mechanism, determined that the explosion would devastate the IRA’s public image.”
In 2018 a letter supposedly penned by an MI5 operative was released by the Irish Government as part of 1988 State papers, in which a similar claim is made.
“Our section became aware through the use of technical surveillance of the plans of the local IRA in Enniskillen,” the letter sent to Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Lenihan read.
“Having gained the knowledge of where and when this IRA gang was going to place the bomb, (we also knew of its size and technical make-up), our section decided to change the timing device and let the explosion take place so that the IRA would score an own goal and create a massive backlash against itself.
“Our section also calculated that in the climate of backlash against the IRA, all kinds of security measures could be implemented, including extradition.”
The author of that correspondence, dated November 14, 1987 (six days after the bombing), states they were an MI5 agent who had been working in Northern Ireland for the previous 18 months as part of a “special section” whose brief was to “infiltrate and manipulate subversive organisations and to manipulate situations to advance our aims”.
Claiming to have become increasingly “disaffected and afraid of what has been happening” after the blast, the writer says: “I decided I must do something.”
The “agent” goes on to list four operations they were involved in, including the Remembrance Day atrocity.
The Enniskillen bomb did, in part, lead to changes in Dublin’s policy on extradition.
At the time both governments were in the midst of negotiations over an Extradition Act which would make it easier for IRA suspects to be handed over across the border or to Britain.
In exchange Dublin wanted reform to the justice system here, including the abolishment of non-jury Diplock courts.
After the massacre, opposition to the Act dissipated and it was passed.
While Dillon acknowledges “one must treat matters like this with considerable caution”, he says sources have confirmed both governments “have concealed this document”.
One intelligence source is reported as having told the author they had heard there were files “scrubbed” in the wake of the bombing, and that a “matter arose which muddied the waters in the intelligence corridors” — specifically about the running of agents.
In light of the revelations, loved ones of four victims have called for a full probe to get to the truth.
The families’ solicitor Kevin Winter, of KRW Law, said: “Post the Legacy Act, the only available mechanism to investigate these highly sensitive allegations is by way of a public inquiry under Section 1 of the Public Inquiry Act (NI) 2005.
“We are now writing to the Secretary of State, the Home Office and the Irish government urging an S1 public inquiry analogous to the Omagh bombing inquiry.”
In the wake of the 1987 blast the IRA claimed it was not aimed at civilians and insisted they were targeting UDR members parading to the cenotaph.
The Irish Department of Justice said in a statement: “The bombing of Enniskillen on Remembrance Day, 1987 was an appalling act with no justification. The perpetrators of this bombing demonstrated a callous disregard for human life. So many families suffered a terrible loss, and like so many others who in the course of the Troubles lost loved ones, they continue to bear that loss today.
“The Department notes the intention of KRW Law to write to the Irish Government. It would not be appropriate for the Department to comment about any proposed legal correspondence.”