Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today is the 31st anniversary of the assassination of Councillor Eddie Fullerton. The Minister will be aware I have made a number of speeches in his presence about that case and the Minister is familiar with it. I will focus on the case of Councillor Eddie Fullerton again here today to illustrate what I believe is the serious bad faith by the British Government and the British state and how I think they are trying to protect themselves from accountability and responsibility for their central role in the conflict and in the assassination of an elected representative of the people of Donegal.

We know from Operation Greenwich, and the Police Ombudsman report from earlier this year. That report came after 15 years. It was an exhaustive report that followed from a complaint in 2006 from the Fullerton family. It was a remarkable investigation. I commend those who carried it out. They were honourable people. They themselves were shocked at what they discovered. Indeed, we learn in the report, Operation Greenwich, that they had submitted a file to the PSNI in 2016 with details about a person involved in multiple murders who should be of interest to the PSNI. That person is Person K. I will not name him here today. I will reserve that to a future decision based on the actions of the British state. Person K was a mass murderer. He was clearly a British military agent. He was the person overseeing the assassination of Councillor Fullerton.

Other persons involved in Councillor Fullerton's assassination are identified as Person J and Person P in the report. Both Person J and Person P were British soldiers. I believe Person P was a British military agent acting inside the Ulster Defence Association, UDA. What I am saying to the Minister is I believe British military intelligence acting on behalf of the British state directed its agents, including a serving British soldier, to assassinate an elected representative in Donegal 31 years ago today. It could not be more serious than that.

I would like to name Person K here today but I am not going to. I may do in time. I have that right under privilege in this House if I believe that justice has not been served. Person K will not be able to hide forever. Person K is a mass murderer.

Person K went on to oversee the massacres at Castlerock and Greysteel - the murders of 12 innocent people. He is a psychopath and a mass murderer, a British military agent with a licence to kill. Even after Greysteel, even when a person who was believed to be a police agent was convicted of being involved in Greysteel, he was still protected even though the evidence of his involvement in Greysteel was absolutely overwhelming. One of the persons convicted of Greysteel identified Person K as overseeing the entire operation, from securing the vehicle that was used as the getaway car to providing the weaponry to making sure they practised the route and tested the weapons. He could not have been more involved. When the deed was done, he was not present but he oversaw the entire matter. His fingerprints were caught on a plastic bag with the weapons used in Greysteel in the holdall. Even though a witness, a person involved in the murder, said he was completely involved, even though his fingerprints were found on a plastic bag with the weapons used in Greysteel, a mass murder of eight people, he was not convicted. He will be brought to justice. The problem for the British state is, when he is brought to justice, so will those who gave him the orders, and that goes right up to, I believe, Whitehall and 10 Downing Street. I believe they were carrying out a series of targeted assassinations of republicans from Pat Finucane to Sinn Féin councillors, including Councillor Fullerton.

There is even more to it, if that was not enough. It is astonishing. This is all down to the investigation of Operation Greenwich, an astonishing report that I appeal to the officials in the Department to examine in detail. I am happy to meet with them and divulge the information, thanks to the Fullerton family, that we have unveiled.

Person J had recently left the British Army just before his involvement in Councillor Fullerton's murder. Person J was found in possession of hundreds of intelligence files on republicans in early 1991 prior to Councillor Fullerton's assassination. Within those files, there were two names that stand out: Sinn Féin Councillor Bernard O'Hagan and Sinn Féin member Mr. Tommy Casey. Both those men would be murdered later on in 1991. Even though Person J, who had left the British Army just before 1991, was out on bail for being in possession of all of those documents, we believe he was involved in the assassinations of Councillor Fullerton, Councillor O'Hagan and Mr. Casey. He was then convicted and sentenced to six months for possession of those files, even though two of the names in the file were subsequently murdered after they were found in early 1991. It is astonishing what has been revealed in this report, beyond what we ourselves even would have thought possible. What one is looking at here is a British military agent who becomes a mass murderer of innocent people, oversees these operations, is protected all the way, is taken away from the scene after the ceasefire and lives a life.

Person J and Person K are still alive today. They may think that they can hide from justice; they cannot.

I want to send a message to the British state and the British security services that might think they can cover up all of this. We know what they did. We know those who carried out these acts for them. They may try to hide. They might try to close down their Facebook accounts, which these two people and one other person directly involved in the murder have, but they will not hide from justice. The family of the late Councillor Fullerton and the other families will have justice and the British state will tell the full truth about its role in the conflict in the North.

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