Veteran Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson has admitted he was a paid British agent for two decades.
Here is his statement in full, which he made to Irish broadcaster RTE at a Dublin hotel.
"My name is Denis Donaldson. I worked as the Sinn Fein Assembly group administrator in Parliament Buildings at the time of the PSNI raid on the Sinn Fein offices in October 2002, the so-called Stormontgate affair.
"I was a British agent at the time.
"I was recruited in the 1980s after compromising myself during a vulnerable time in my life.
"Since then, I have worked for British intelligence and the RUC/PSNI Special Branch. Over that period I was paid money.
"My last two contacts with Special Branch were as follows: two days before my arrest in October 2002, and last night, when a member of Special Branch contacted me to arrange a meeting.
"I was not involved in any republican spy ring at Stormont.
"The so-called Stormontgate affair was a scam and a fiction. It never existed. It was created by Special Branch.
"I deeply regret my activities with British intelligence and RUC/PSNI Special Branch.
"I apologise to anyone who has suffered as a result of my activities as well as to my former comrades, and especially to my family who have become victims in all of this."
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