The Sinn Féin President has claimed that a highly sophisticated listening and tracking device has been found attached to a car used by his party. During a news conference to outline Sinn Féin's programme for the new Northern Executive, Gerry Adams said that he had made formal protests to the Irish and British Governments about the find.
At the news conference in Stormont, the Sinn Féin President produced what he said was a sophisticated satellite linked listening device. Gerry Adams told reporters that it had been found in a Ford Mondeo car that was used by his party's delegation during the recent Mitchell review of the Good Friday agreement. He did not specify how it was discovered, but believed that it had been installed at a time when he and Martin McGuinness were carrying out sensitive meetings with the IRA.
He also played a video, which, he said, showed how the device had been concealed in the wiring of the car. He said that it had been hidden in the vehicle, which is owned by a Sinn Féin supporter in such a way as to make it undetectable during routine servicing. Mr Adams said that the discovery of the bugging equipment represented a serious breach of faith, which could be resolved only at the highest level. He has contacted the Taoiseach's office and will also be in touch with the British Prime Minister about the matter.
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has said he did not intend to comment on the accusation by the Sinn Fein leader. Mr Blair was speaking in the Commons after being asked whether he planned to launch an enquiry into the matter. However, the North's Deputy First Minister, Seamus Mallon, condemned the bugging and said an investigation was to be launched.
The new Education Minister, Martin McGuinness, claimed that the device had been planted by elements of the British military intelligence service who were opposed to the peace process. Ulster Unionist MP, Jeffrey Donaldson, said that he was not surprised by the discovery of the device. However, the DUP's Ian Paisley Junior claimed that Mr Adams had planted it himself in order to get publicity. In the talks leading up to the Good Friday agreement, Sinn Féin claimed that a house belonging to a relative of their negotiator Gerry Kelly had been bugged and on that occasion also blamed people in the British military establishment.
