26.7.04

Irish American Information Service

**From Friday


STATEMENT SOUGHT FROM MURPHY ON SECURITY LEAK
07/23/04 13:35 EST

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has been called
on to make a public statement over the removal of 28 British
soldiers from duty following a suspected security breach at
Castlereagh.


Sinn Féin Assembly member Gerry Kelly issued the call to Mr
Paul Murphy as republicans staged a protest beneath an Army
observation post in west Belfast where some of the soldiers
were reported to have worked.


The British army confirmed on Wednesday that 28 Royal Irish
Regiment (RIR) troops had been transferred to alternative
duties during a police investigation into the disappearance
of a sensitive document from the Castlereagh security
complex in east Belfast.


Security sources have indicated that the army's Special
Investigations Branch has interviewed the soldiers and at
least eight of the troops are to face further questioning.


It is thought the details of around 400 people are contained
in the document and Sinn Féin has asked Ireland's Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, to raise the matter at the
highest level with the British Government.


During today's protest outside Divis Tower, North Belfast
MLA Gerry Kelly said it was untenable for the British to
maintain silence on the security breach.


"There is a real fear that the events unfolding in
Castlereagh and at Divis Tower spy post are another chapter
in the collusion scandal," he said.


"We have a dossier missing from Castlereagh and the
potential for intelligence gathering on the nationalist
community from Divis Tower is very obvious. Paul Murphy is
now back in Ireland and I am demanding that he makes a
statement on this scandal," Mr Kelly said.


He added it was essential that all those listed in the
document were informed of the possible threat to their safety.


Given previous evidence of collusion between the security
forces and loyalist terror groups, he said nationalists had
no faith in a Police Service of Northern Ireland assessment
that people's lives are not at risk.

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