Diarmuid Ó Breasláin is co-author of 'A Short History of the Irish Language' (with Paddy Dwyer) and 'A Short History of the Manx Language' (with Brian Stowell).

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Nuair a d'fhreagair uachtarán Chonradh na Gaeilge litir ó ghrúpa príosúnach i mbraighdeanas i gcampa na Ceise Fada i mí Márta 1972, ba bheag a thuig Maolseachlainn Ó Caollaí go raibh sé ag cur tús le rannpháirtíocht idir an Conradh agus cimí polaitiúla a mhairfeadh go dtí deireadh na haoise.Eagraíocht neamhpholaitiúil a bhí agus atá sa Chonradh, ach ba dheacair gan seasamh poiblí a ghlacadh i rith na mblianta sin ar cheisteanna cearta teanga do phríosúnaigh, agus ar cheisteanna cearta daonna. An raibh an baol ann go raibh a ról sna feachtais éagsúla príosúin – san fheachtas Bloc H / Ard Mhacha go háirithe – ag sárú a bhunreachta féin? Bunaithe ar chomhaid chomhfhreagrais idir an Conradh agus na príosúnaigh agus grúpaí tacaíochta na gcimí, scrúdaíonn Eoghan Mac Cormaic an cheist, na dúshláin agus na buanna a bhí i ndán don eagraíocht agus í ag iarraidh beart a chur le briathar.

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In this sensational exposé of British Intelligence’s top informer in the upper ranks of the IRA, Richard O’Rawe delivers the most definitive account yet of the Troubles’ most enigmatic, notorious and sinister figure, Freddie Scappaticci.

Codenamed Stakeknife, from the late 1970s through to his eventual exposure in 2003 he was the ‘jewel in the crown’ of a British infiltration system designed to cause mayhem and chaos in the IRA’s military operations. O’Rawe gained unprecedented access to Scappaticci’s former comrades, who reveal extraordinary details of the inner workings of the IRA’s Internal Security Unit. Headed by Scappaticci, this secretive group was known locally as the ‘Nutting Squad’ owing to its fearsome reputation for the abduction, interrogation, torture and execution of volunteers suspected of working for the British or the RUC. The political scandal at the heart of this story is that Scappaticci’s intelligence handlers were aware of almost every abduction and execution he carried out prior to it taking place; a scandal that became the subject of the British government sponsored inquiry, Operation Kenova.

In this compelling and extraordinary story of state-sanctioned murder and extreme moral ambiguity in the overriding quest for the protection of ‘national security’, the truth is truly stranger than fiction.

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