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NI: Sinn Fein negotiators bugged

01 November 1999

Sinn Fein (SF) chief negotiator Gerry Adams called a press conference at the beginning of December to denounce the British security services after sophisticated surveillance equipment was found in a car that the SF team had used during Good Friday Agreement talks. The device, believed to include a Global-Positional Satellite tracking device and a radio to transmit conversation, was carefully wired into the body of the car. Adams demanded an explanation from prime Minister Tony Blair who responded to a question in the House of Commons by saying "I never comment on security allegations." However, he later suggested that the device had been placed to protect the SF team. Adams was unconvinced by Blair's spin, claiming that he felt "shafted" by the discovery. This is not the first time the government has bugged the Sinn Fein negotiating team at delicate stages of the peace talks; Sinn Fein discovered a device planted in their Stormont office earlier this year and in 1998 a key negotiator, Gerry Kelly, discovered that a house that he used had been bugged.