Ex-Official Admits She OKd Bugging of Sinn Fein Car

Former Northern Ireland Secretary Marjorie “Mo” Mowlam has admitted that she sanctioned the bugging of a car used by Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams while peace talks were being held last year, the BBC said Saturday.

“Lives were being lost. At least it was done to make sure we knew what was going on,” Mowlam said in an interview to be broadcast Monday, details of which were released by the British Broadcasting Corp. in advance.

The Northern Ireland office refused to confirm any involvement by British army intelligence or others.

Officials of Sinn Fein--the Irish Republican Army’s political wing--found a microphone, wiring and transmitter in a car used by Adams and his deputy, Martin McGuinness, in December 1999 after peace talks with rival pro-British Protestant politicians had ended.

“Republicans would be disappointed but not surprised by this revelation. It is evidence of the effectiveness of the British ‘securocrat’ agenda within the system--at such a sensitive time in the talks--to subvert efforts for peace,” a Sinn Fein spokesman said.

The discovery sparked a row at the time between Ireland and London. Adams accused Britain of a serious breach of faith and said it had damaged the peace process.

Political parties from both sides of the sectarian divide in May revived an uneasy power-sharing government of the Protestant majority and the Roman Catholic minority.

The IRA and other mainstream guerrilla groups are observing a cease-fire while Protestant and Catholic politicians try to seal a lasting peace. But renegade Irish republicans and pro-British “loyalists” have been blamed for sporadic outbreaks of violence.

Mowlam left her job as Northern Ireland secretary in a government reshuffle in October 1999 and is now the British Cabinet Office minister.