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Tag: Declassified files
12 days ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Declassified files: Stormont officials told name of leading businessman 'set to be named' in catt...

A senior Stormont Department of Agriculture official who wrote the department's response to an EU fraud office enquir...

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17 days ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Officials dismayed at NI special school’s approach to pupil who sexually abused nine-year-old boy

A senior education inspector was appalled at how a special school handled a pupil’s sexual abuse of much younger pupi...

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24 days ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Declassified files show NI’s future reformist PM ‘against nuclear plant in Catholic area’

The man who would become Northern Ireland’s key reformist Prime Minister repeatedly expressed alarm at a plan to buil...

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26 days ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Declassified files: Civil servants refused to approve facilities for NI beauty spot as they didn’...

Sceptical civil servants refused in the 1950s to approve many basic facilities which turned Tollymore into Northern I...

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27 days ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Declassified Files: How NI almost went nuclear in the race for atomic power

Almost seven decades ago, Northern Ireland’s first nuclear power plant came far closer to being built than most peopl...

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29 days ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Stormont row with academic over his study into ‘abusive wives’ is laid bare

A notoriously headstrong academic became locked in a long dispute with Stormont after it refused to publish his resea...

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30 days ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Foot and mouth crisis: NI officials feared they’d have to ask RUC to shoot animals in ‘doomsday s...

The 2001 foot and mouth disease crisis overwhelmed Stormont’s resources to the extent that if it had become much wors...

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30 days ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

PM was urged not to intervene in case of innocent man convicted of murder: ‘Would it do NI any go...

Civil servants warned against the Prime Minister intervening over the conviction of a young man ultimately cleared of...

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about 1 month ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Blair put intense pressure on Attorney General to drop case against leading Sinn Féin figure, say...

Tony Blair put intense pressure on his Attorney General to drop criminal proceedings against a leading Sinn Féin memb...

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2 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Secret memos told PM ‘quality intelligence' on IRA was 'rarely obtainable’ – contrary to what’s n...

Twelve days after Sir Patrick Mayhew’s appointment as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, he sent a ‘secret and ...

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

How Orange Order’s plan for a neck tie with crown motif was undone by the Queen

Just a few years before the Troubles began, the Home Office knew so little about the Orange Order that it resorted to...

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Army’s concern at RUC getting a bigger covert operations role

A secret Army paper in 1984 expressed concern the RUC might get more involved in “the mucky end” of intelligence-gath...

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Informant was paid equivalent of £55k for info which saw ‘notorious IRA gang’ arrested

The largest single payment to an informant in Northern Ireland during the first 13 years of the Troubles was £15,000 ...

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

SF lobbied for return of on the run IRA man later killed by his former comrades

Sinn Féin pressed to get on the run Provo Kevin McGuigan back into Northern Ireland in 2000 — 15 years before the IRA...

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Tony Blair’s Government wanted an amnesty only for terrorists, with soldiers and police excluded,...

Long before the government legislated to give an amnesty for all Troubles crimes, its own files show it had been warn...

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Despite Sinn Féin now denouncing Troubles amnesty, it secretly pressed for an amnesty...but just ...

For years, Sinn Féin has been at the forefront of the campaign against the Government’s Troubles amnesty.

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Jeffrey Donaldson privately vowed to stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with David Trimble — even if th...

Despite his hardline public stance, Jeffrey Donaldson privately said if the IRA allowed its arms dumps to be inspecte...

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Peter Robinson ‘well aware’ DUP was handing seat to Sinn Féin by splitting unionist vote in 2001

Peter Robinson was “well aware” that DUP support for an independent unionist candidate in the 2001 General Election w...

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Government’s ‘private understanding with Sinn Féin’ revealed – and NIO won’t say if it remains in...

The Government had a “private understanding with Sinn Féin” – and recorded it in written form – that it would set up ...

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

South Armagh watchtowers had function so secretive that security agencies wouldn’t even tell America

The south Armagh watchtowers had a function which was so secretive that British security agencies did not even tell A...

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5 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Tony Blair worked behind scenes to thwart Pat Finucane public inquiry after discussion with MI5 boss

Tony Blair worked behind the scenes to avoid a full public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane after a conversati...

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6 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Emma Little-Pengelly’s father was ‘leading UDA man’ who was key to missiles-for-arms plot, MI5 be...

Despite his denials, secret documents discovered by the Belfast Telegraph show that the Government believed Noel Litt...

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6 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Rather than Britain plotting to murder Peter Robinson, as he claimed, officials worked to protect...

Contrary to Peter Robinson’s claim that the UK Government was hiring a mercenary to murder him after his ‘invasion’ o...

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6 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Garda officer saved Peter Robinson from being put in handcuffs and carted off to prison

A Garda officer saved Peter Robinson from being handcuffed and taken to Mountjoy Prison after a court appearance rela...

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6 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Trimble told SoS how ‘police officers waved their warrant cards at UUP representatives after they...

The reform of policing was more damaging to the UUP than the lack of IRA decommissioning, the UUP told the Government.

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6 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Sinn Fein undoubtedly stole votes when it beat SDLP in 2001 election, official believed

Sinn Féin “undoubtedly” stole votes in the 2001 General Election — the first time the party overtook the SDLP — the N...

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6 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Paisley ‘aware of DUP candidates’ paramilitary links’

Almost half of the DUP’s candidates for Newtownabbey Borough Council in 1993 had some links to loyalist paramilitaris...

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6 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

IRA was short of cash after 1994 ceasefire and ‘had no strategy’ to replenish funds

Two months after the first IRA ceasefire in 1994, Britain’s top intelligence unit had evidence the Provos needed mone...

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6 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Robinson privately briefed NIO and worked to manoeuvre Paisley into talks

Peter Robinson privately briefed the NIO on his desire to re-enter political talks in the early 1990s and worked with...

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6 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Intelligence showed IRA leader in charge of decommissioning was secretly in the US looking for gu...

The IRA leader in charge of decommissioning was secretly in America under an illegal name looking to import new guns ...

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6 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

NIO's hidden secrets uncovered by the Belfast Telegraph: Ulster Resistance, IRA intelligence and ...

For years, secrets which should have been opened to the public of Northern Ireland have instead been hidden from us.

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9 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Half of fuel sold in NI from 1992-2000 was smuggled across the border, files reveal

About half of all fuel sold in Northern Ireland was being smuggled from the Republic, according to declassified paper...

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9 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Up to £40,000 fee for Jon Snow to chair seminar at Stormont labelled ‘outrageous’

The Head of the Civil Service was appalled at the “outrageous sum” being quoted for journalist Jon Snow to lead a sem...

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9 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

State papers: London aware DUP intended to take up ministerial posts even if IRA kept its guns

Almost a year before the DUP appointed its first Executive ministers, the NIO privately knew Ian Paisley’s party was ...

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9 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Some top NIO officials didn’t want to speak to PUP and UDP after a spate of loyalist killings

Senior NIO officials were split on whether the Government should break off contact with the political representatives...

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9 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Queen personally intervened to ensure Irish passport holders from NI got to Buckingham Palace gar...

The Queen requested that those invited to summer garden parties at Buckingham Palace should include Irish passport ho...

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9 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Catholic teacher investigated by the RUC on basis of anonymous note

An 80-year-old file from the Second World War which has just been declassified reveals the alarm within Stormont caus...

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9 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Stormont releasing fewer files under law it passed to supposedly make itself more transparent

Despite claiming to love transparency, Stormont is getting more secretive, with a dramatic decrease in the number of ...

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9 months ago
belfasttelegraph.co.uk

State papers: IRA was evenly split on peace process just months before ceasefire

Just eight months before the IRA’s first major ceasefire in 1994, intelligence showed there was a “close to 50/50 spl...

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