Sean O'Callaghan
Encyclopedia
Sean O'Callaghan is a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army
(IRA) who became an informer
for the Garda Síochána
and who was later debriefed by the UK's
MI5
in the Netherlands
. Following his release from jail, he wrote his autobiography, The Informer.
family in Tralee, County Kerry
, he was motivated by the Civil Rights Movement
in Northern Ireland
during the Troubles
, and joined the IRA at the age of 15. O'Callaghan was arrested and jailed after he accidentally detonated a small amount of explosives, which caused damage to his parents' house and those of his neighbours.
During the 1970s, he was involved in various IRA operations, notably in May 1974 a mortar attack on a British army
base at Clogher
, County Tyrone
in which a female ("Greenfinch") Ulster Defence Regiment
soldier, Eva Martin, was killed. In August 1974 he walked into a bar in Omagh
, County Tyrone and shot dead a Royal Ulster Constabulary
Special Branch
officer, Peter Flanagan.
, where he later decided to become an informer. He returned to Tralee, where he had a meeting with a local Garda, who had previously arrested him, and disclosed that he wanted to be an informer.
O'Callaghan stated that he was the head of the IRA Southern Command and a substitute delegate on the IRA Army Council
both in print and before a Dublin jury under oath. However, these claims have been denied.
He was elected a local councillor for Sinn Féin
, and was in regular contact with its leaders, Gerry Adams
(now TD
for Louth
) and Martin McGuinness
(now MP
for Mid Ulster
).
In 1984, he helped to foil a bomb on a theatre in London
, where Prince Charles
and Princess Diana
were to attend a benefit concert which featured Duran Duran
and Dire Straits
, among other performers. He escaped to Ireland as he was wanted by the British police.
Republicans have strongly criticised the claims made by O'Callaghan in his book 'The Informer' and subsequent newspaper articles. One republican source says O'Callaghan "...has been forced to overstate his former importance in the IRA and to make increasingly outlandish accusations against individual republicans." This includes a claim that he attended an IRA finance meeting alongside Pat Finucane and Gerry Adams
in Letterkenny
in 1980. However, both Finucane and Adams have consistently denied being IRA members. In Finucane's case, both the RUC and the Stevens Report
found that he was not a member.
. While in jail he told his story to The Sunday Times
and after he was released in 1997 he wrote an autobiography entitled The Informer.
, London
, after an incident in which O'Callaghan was bound to a chair by two young men whom he met in a gay bar
in West London. The court heard that O'Callaghan was held at knifepoint while the two men ransacked the property that O'Callaghan had been staying in at Pope's Lane, Ealing
, London.
During the trial O'Callaghan stated that he had been looking after the property for a friend, the author Ruth Dudley Edwards, and he invited the two men back to the house for a drink after socialising with them in a nearby gay pub, West Five. O'Callaghan informed the court that had frequented the pub "only because it was the nearest" public house
. He further outlined that when they arrived back at Dudley Edwards' home, he was then knocked to the floor, tied with an electrical flex to a chair and then held at knifepoint while Samhan and another man proceeded to burgle the property.
In his defence, Samhan claimed that O'Callaghan was a willing participant and had requested that he be tied up during a gay bondage
session with the two men. Samhan was nevertheless found guilty of robbery on September 6, 2006.
and media pundit, usually whenever the IRA has made a major announcement.
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
(IRA) who became an informer
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
for the Garda Síochána
Garda Síochána
, more commonly referred to as the Gardaí , is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.- Terminology :...
and who was later debriefed by the UK's
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Following his release from jail, he wrote his autobiography, The Informer.
Early life
O'Callaghan was born in 1954 into a republicanIrish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
family in Tralee, County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, he was motivated by the Civil Rights Movement
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association
The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was an organisation which campaigned for equal civil rights for the all the people in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s and early 1970s...
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
during the Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
, and joined the IRA at the age of 15. O'Callaghan was arrested and jailed after he accidentally detonated a small amount of explosives, which caused damage to his parents' house and those of his neighbours.
During the 1970s, he was involved in various IRA operations, notably in May 1974 a mortar attack on a British army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
base at Clogher
Clogher
Clogher is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Blackwater, south of Omagh. The United Kingdom Census of 2001 recorded a population of 309.-History:...
, County Tyrone
County Tyrone
Historically Tyrone stretched as far north as Lough Foyle, and comprised part of modern day County Londonderry east of the River Foyle. The majority of County Londonderry was carved out of Tyrone between 1610-1620 when that land went to the Guilds of London to set up profit making schemes based on...
in which a female ("Greenfinch") Ulster Defence Regiment
Ulster Defence Regiment
The Ulster Defence Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army which became operational in 1970, formed on similar lines to other British reserve forces but with the operational role of defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage...
soldier, Eva Martin, was killed. In August 1974 he walked into a bar in Omagh
Omagh
Omagh is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. The town, which is the largest in the county, had a population of 19,910 at the 2001 Census. Omagh also contains the headquarters of Omagh District Council and...
, County Tyrone and shot dead a Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
officer, Peter Flanagan.
Role as an Informer
In 1976, aged 21, O'Callaghan resigned from the IRA, and moved to EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where he later decided to become an informer. He returned to Tralee, where he had a meeting with a local Garda, who had previously arrested him, and disclosed that he wanted to be an informer.
O'Callaghan stated that he was the head of the IRA Southern Command and a substitute delegate on the IRA Army Council
IRA Army Council
The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The council had seven members, said by the...
both in print and before a Dublin jury under oath. However, these claims have been denied.
He was elected a local councillor for Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
, and was in regular contact with its leaders, Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
(now TD
Teachta Dála
A Teachta Dála , usually abbreviated as TD in English, is a member of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas . It is the equivalent of terms such as "Member of Parliament" or "deputy" used in other states. The official translation of the term is "Deputy to the Dáil", though a more literal...
for Louth
Louth (Dáil Éireann constituency)
Louth is a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The constituency elects 5 deputies...
) and Martin McGuinness
Martin McGuinness
James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....
(now MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Mid Ulster
Mid Ulster
Mid Ulster can refer to:* Central Ulster* Mid Ulster * Mid Ulster * Mid Ulster English* the proposed Mid-Ulster District local authority...
).
In 1984, he helped to foil a bomb on a theatre in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where Prince Charles
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
and Princess Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
were to attend a benefit concert which featured Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
and Dire Straits
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...
, among other performers. He escaped to Ireland as he was wanted by the British police.
Republicans have strongly criticised the claims made by O'Callaghan in his book 'The Informer' and subsequent newspaper articles. One republican source says O'Callaghan "...has been forced to overstate his former importance in the IRA and to make increasingly outlandish accusations against individual republicans." This includes a claim that he attended an IRA finance meeting alongside Pat Finucane and Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
in Letterkenny
Letterkenny
Letterkenny , with a population of 17,568, is the largest town in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. The town is located on the River Swilly...
in 1980. However, both Finucane and Adams have consistently denied being IRA members. In Finucane's case, both the RUC and the Stevens Report
Stevens Report
The Stevens Inquiries were three official British government inquiries led by Sir John Stevens concerning collusion in Northern Ireland between loyalist paramilitaries and the state security forces...
found that he was not a member.
Literary career
On 29 November 1988, after having left the IRA, he walked into a police station in Tunbridge Wells, England and confessed to the killings of Eva Martin and Peter Flanagan. He subsequently served a jail sentence in prisons in Northern Ireland and EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. While in jail he told his story to The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
and after he was released in 1997 he wrote an autobiography entitled The Informer.
Robbery victim
O'Callaghan appeared as a Crown Prosecution witness in August 2006 during the trial of Yousef Samhan, 26 of NortholtNortholt
Northolt is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, England. The town has London Underground and Network Rail stations and is on the A40 road...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, after an incident in which O'Callaghan was bound to a chair by two young men whom he met in a gay bar
Gay bar
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
in West London. The court heard that O'Callaghan was held at knifepoint while the two men ransacked the property that O'Callaghan had been staying in at Pope's Lane, Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
, London.
During the trial O'Callaghan stated that he had been looking after the property for a friend, the author Ruth Dudley Edwards, and he invited the two men back to the house for a drink after socialising with them in a nearby gay pub, West Five. O'Callaghan informed the court that had frequented the pub "only because it was the nearest" public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
. He further outlined that when they arrived back at Dudley Edwards' home, he was then knocked to the floor, tied with an electrical flex to a chair and then held at knifepoint while Samhan and another man proceeded to burgle the property.
In his defence, Samhan claimed that O'Callaghan was a willing participant and had requested that he be tied up during a gay bondage
Bondage (BDSM)
Bondage is the use of restraints for the sexual pleasure of the parties involved. It may be used in its own right, as in the case of rope bondage and breast bondage, or as part of sexual activity or BDSM activity.- Private bondage :...
session with the two men. Samhan was nevertheless found guilty of robbery on September 6, 2006.
Present occupation
He now lives relatively openly in England, having refused to adopt a new identity, and works as a security consultant, occasional advisor to the Ulster Unionist PartyUlster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
and media pundit, usually whenever the IRA has made a major announcement.
Further reading
- Howard, Paul Hostage: Notorious Irish Kidnappings (O'Brien Press)
- The Sunday Business Post
- Dwyer, Ryle The IRA informer who kept gardaí on track in search for Shergar, Irish Examiner, 20 April 2000.
- O'Callaghan, Sean The Informer Corgi 1999 ISBN 0-552-14607-2
See also
- Martin McGartlandMartin McGartlandMartin McGartland is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army informer who joined the organisation in order to pass information to British security forces. When he was exposed as an informer in 1991, he escaped from IRA custody and was resettled in England. His identity became known after a...
- Raymond GilmourRaymond GilmourRaymond Gilmour is a former Irish National Liberation Army and Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer who worked clandestinely from 1977 until 1982 for the Royal Ulster Constabulary within those paramilitary organisations...
- Denis DonaldsonDenis DonaldsonDenis Martin Donaldson was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army and a member of Sinn Féin who was exposed in December 2005 as an informer in the employment of MI5 and the Special Branch of the Police Service of Northern Ireland Denis Martin Donaldson (Short Strand, Belfast,...
- Kevin FultonKevin Fulton"Kevin Fulton" is the pseudonym of Peter Keeley, a British agent from Newry, Northern Ireland who allegedly spied on the Provisional Irish Republican Army for British Military Intelligence....
- Sinn FéinSinn FéinSinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
- History of Northern IrelandHistory of Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is today one of the four countries of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, having been created as a separate legal entity on 3 May 1921, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920...
- TerrorismTerrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
- The TroublesThe TroublesThe Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
- ShergarShergarShergar was an acclaimed Irish racehorse, and winner of the 1981 Epsom Derby by a record 10 lengths, the longest winning margin in the race's 226-year history. This victory earned him a spot in The Observer newspaper's 100 Most Memorable Sporting Moments of the Twentieth Century...