What the papers say

Keith Baker takes a look at what is making the headlines in Monday's morning newspapers.

There is great excitement this morning about the unmasking of the Army agent known as Stakeknife, the informer who was at the heart of the IRA.

Some papers are happy enough to name Alfredo Scappaticci... others are a bit more reticent.

The Mirror appears to have been talking to him. "I'm not an IRA spy", the headline says.

But the interest now is not so much who he is, but where he is.

Safe houses

Reporters from the Irish News describe calling at his house in west Belfast.

They say people could be seen inside and a car was parked in the drive, but no-one was willing to talk.

Regardless of what country he is resettled in, he can never afford to stop looking over his shoulder

The Mail

Republican sources have told the Guardian that Mr Scappaticci was prepared to tough it out, but security forces eventually persuaded him to leave and he was spirited away to England by undercover agents.

The paper says he may spend the rest of his life in safe houses.

It is not uncommon for several moves to take place, it says, before a settled home is found.

Some agents have been relocated as far away as Canada and New Zealand.

A report in the Mail says that from now until he dies, Freddy Scappaticci will know that he is being hunted by his former comrades.

And regardless of what country he is resettled in, he can never afford to stop looking over his shoulder.

There is general agreement that wherever he is, Sir John Stevens might also want to have a word with him.

Many of the papers examine the agent's life and times and the things in which he may have been involved.

Whisky and walks

The Express claims he was once even flown to England to give a secret briefing to Margaret Thatcher when she was prime minister.

The paper says they drank whisky and went for walks.

Unnamed senior republican sources are quoted all over the place.

One tells the Express: "This is the biggest blow the IRA has ever suffered. He literally knows where the bodies are buried."

The Independent says what it all adds up to is yet another intelligence scandal in Northern Ireland, another can of worms.

What has been revealed, it says, is a nightmare world without a moral compass.

John Kampfner in the Express says Northern Ireland has two faces.

It is increasingly a place at ease with itself, but here we have a reminder that for all the talk of devolution and normality, espionage, underworld and infiltration still play a big role in life on both sides of the border.

Dan Keenan in the Irish Times notes that the bigger and more incredible the controversy, the more muted the outcry seems to be.

Thus when a well-paid British Army agent is named and identified as a feared IRA interrogator, torturer and killer, little is heard from the many political sources who rush to comment on just about everything else.

Meanwhile in the midst of all this, the News Letter comes up with revelations of its own, this time involving an apparent loyalist spy ring.

The paper says it has learned of a UVF intelligence network, the existence of which suggests that police and Army collusion with loyalists was broader and more coordinated than ever imagined.

According to the News Letter, countless files were passed to senior UVF figures by individuals in the security forces.

One source tells the paper: "We're talking about dozens of people being killed."

Brian Nelson, he says, was just a drop in the ocean.

Past conflicts

Finally, an echo of past conflicts in the Irish Independent which reports on a concerted effort to save a house at Moore Street in Dublin which is due for demolition.

Some Dublin councillors, including the Lord Mayor, are trying to stop the redevelopment because the house is where some of the leaders of the Easter Rising made their final stand.

There is also a move in the High Court to help preserve it.

The National Graves Association describe it as a national treasure.

And if all this succeeds, that would make it a safe house, wouldn't it.