BBC documentary reflects badly on the UK Government and poses 'serious questions' for republican leaders

Responding to the BBC documentary produced by journalist Peter Taylor, Kenny Donaldson of SEFF said the programme highlighted a government official – identified only as ‘Robert’ – as having acquiesced in assisting republicans by “continuing to talk to an active terrorist organisation”.

In the documentary – The MI5 Spy and the IRA: Operation Chiffon – the former MI5 officer recounts how he defied the UK Government and his superiors at the intelligence service to carry on back channel negotiations with the IRA, having face-to-face talks with Martin McGuinness and Gerry Kelly, after the Warrington bombing in March 1993.

Mr Donaldson said: "We are not in a position to authenticate the remarks made by 'Robert' nor the narrative overview by Peter Taylor, however, if what was represented is anywhere in the ballpark of being the truth then there exists many serious questions needing answered by the Provisional Republican Movement.

"Martin McGuinness' speech at The Sinn Fein ard fheis [in February 1993] where he spelt out the end game for Irish republicans in pursuing a democratic pathway, set against the Provisional IRA's decision to then bomb Warrington murdering two defenceless children, and the continuance of their bombing and shooting campaign for another 17 months, illustrates how cynical and depraved the organisation was".

In his book, Secret Victory: the Intelligence War that Beat the IRA, security expert and former Special Branch officer Dr William Matchett described IRA leaders as being “exhausted militarily, suffering low morale and out of ideas,” leading to them asking the UK Government’s “help in ending the IRA’s terrorist campaign”.

However, in the documentary, Taylor claims it was the government that finally recognised "it was not possible to defeat the IRA" and that the only other alternative was to engage with them.

Robert said that although "Parliament was kept in the dark," about the meetings, Downing Street was not and initially the operation had the blessing of Prime Minister John Major.

However, MI5 top brass informed Robert that the Warrington bombing had ended the government's interest in direct talks with the IRA.

When the Londonderry businessman acting as an intermediary, Brendan Duddy, advised Robert that a scheduled meeting in the city had been arranged as expected – just three days after the bomb had claimed the lives of two children – Robert decided to attend without authorisation.

Robert said McGuinness "did most of the talking," while Duddy said that "Gerry Kelly wrote everything down".

Reading from a typed copy of the notes taken by Kelly, Peter Taylor quotes Robert as saying: "The final solution is union (Irish unity) – it's going to happen anyway. This island will be as one."

This statement is said to have been pivotal in the IRA's decision to eventually declare a ceasefire in August 1994.

In the documentary, Robert admits he had no authority to make such a statement, that was "directly in the face contrary to what British Government policy was".

Speaking in 1994, McGuinness said he understood at the time that Robert was "delivering a message from the British Government".

Interviewed in 2008, Brendan Duddy said that if Robert hadn't did what he did, "we could still have been hearing the bombs go off" and there might be "no Good Friday Agreement".

Mr Duddy said: "We owe him a great deal. If anybody brought peace to this country it was that man. He took chances way above the line of duty."

Just over a week after the Shankill Road bombing that claimed ten lives in October 1993, Prime Minister John Major told the Commons that the thought of the government engaging in talks with the IRA "would turn my stomach over, and that of most people in this House, and we will not do it. I'm not going to talk to people who indiscriminately murder."

Within weeks, a national newspaper published details of the secret back channel to the IRA and the talks that had already taken place, causing the government extreme embarrassment.

NI Secretary Sir Patrick Mayhew then sought to turn the tables on Martin McGuinness and the IRA by telling MPs that an earlier message had been received from the IRA's talks representative, which said: "The conflict is over, but we need your advice on how to bring it to a close."

Interviewed in 1997, Mr Major said he would have "spoken to Beelzebub if it would have delivered peace, because that was my objective"