January 1990

Handler: “Denis , the big bosses want an update. Who is on the Army Council at present?

Denis: “Gerry, Pat Doherty, head of intelligence; Joe Cahill, Martin McGuinness, Kevin McKenna, Mickey McKevitt and Slab.”

Handler: “Great, and is McGuinness still head of Northern Command?”

Denis:”Of course”

In Policing the Shadows, by Holland and Phoenix, a book written posthumously about Ian Phoenix, who was in RUC Special Branch, the authors state at page 215: “most of the information gathered on the paramilitaries and their links lay idle in police files and was never exploited”

Moral of the story: a succession of Chief Constables ignored [or were instructed to ignore] the activities of PIRA senior figures because of the “peace process”. Alternatively, McGuinness was “the Fisherman” a tout and therefore untouchable. As one commentator has said, why sacrifice Donaldson at the time of the Stormont arrests unless the State had higher placed informants?