O'Loan stood by her 2004 judgement on the search. Political fallout Both the Irish and British governments have ruled out inquiries into the controversy. Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) of the Republic of Ireland Mary Harney said: "I think the last thing we probably need right now is some form of inquiry which may not get very far". British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain described the unfolding scandal as turbulent, but said that inquiries "cost hundreds of millions of pounds. I am not going down that road when it is quite clear that it is not in the public interest to do so. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern described events surrounding the incident as "bizarre". Immediately after the December revelation, unidentified security sources said that a second informer acting independently of Donaldson disclosed the alleged spy ring. Former IRA prisoner and critic of Gerry Adams, Anthony McIntyre, has claimed that a more important British agent is operating in the organisation and that Donaldson was sacrificed by Sinn Féin to deceive people into thinking that the most serious infiltration had been ended. However, Donaldson denied the existence of any sort of spy ring, stating "The plan was to collapse the institutions to save Trimble. David Trimble was trying to out-DUP the DUP and in the end the DUP swallowed him up. The whole idea was to get Trimble off the hook and get republicans the blame. But it didn't work because Trimble is history now." Donaldson killed Since his admission, Donaldson had been living in the Republic of Ireland. On 4 April 2006 he was found shot dead at a house he had been using as a retreat near Glenties, County Donegal. Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell said that Donaldson had been shot in the head and that his right forearm was almost severed. However, a post mortem revealed that he had died from a shotgun blast to the chest. Donaldson's death is now the subject of an ongoing murder inquiry. In 2009 the Real IRA used their Easter message to claim that they had killed Donaldson. See also Freddie Scappaticci List of scandals with "-gate" suffix Martin Ingram Operation Taurus Stakeknife References Politics of Northern Ireland 2002 in Northern Ireland Espionage scandals and incidents