Don Blaney figured that he should share the sensational revelation that Freddie Black was a Special Branch agent with his friend George Hegarty (as the two men had been in regular contact since George’s arrest)but without betraying the man who had put himself at some professional risk to warn him. On neutral ground, Don met George but before talking of the information he had received, he needed to ask George about what had gone on three years previously but had never wanted to discuss until now: did he know who brought the money from the Northern Bank to his house? ‘I do,’ George had chuckled, ‘it was Freddie Black but he didn’t say what was in the bag.’

Don allowed an exasperated breath to escape from him and then told George of what was said at the meeting but added that he could not reveal his source. It was when the role of Freddie Black’s mother was recounted that George had to take a seat; the mention of her convinced him that what Don had been told was true but would not say why. He then asked to Don not to mention this to anyone else as he had to seek advice from a much respected veteran IRA volunteer before he suggested what should happen next.

The following week the two men met up again. What George had told his old comrade had not prompted any expression of surprise: he in turn told George of the time his suspicions had been aroused some years past, when he had accompanied Freddie Black to a city centre to deliver bomb-making equipment. It had seemed the wrong place for such a rendezvous and as the veteran volunteer drove towards the High Street, in the very centre of the city, he’d spotted people who he called ‘Branch men’. Seemingly unconcerned, Freddie Black hopped out of the car and handed over the bag of equipment to a waiting man. It was over within seconds and as they drove away the veteran expected to be pulled over and arrested at any moment but they got home without being apprehended. ‘A few years ago he would’ve been a dead man walking but the war is over and the man I talked to doesn’t want anyone else killed.’ George went on to tell Don of an IRA informer by the name of John Corcoran from Togher in Cork who was shot dead by the IRA commander Sean O’Callaghan in 1985 and his body dumped on the outskirts of Ballincollig. It turned out that O’Callaghan had been also working for An Garda Siochana’s Special Branch. Several Irish journalists subsequently reported that the Irish police had been warned that Corcoran was in danger and put forward the theory that his life had been sacrificed to protect O’Callaghan who was a much more valuable source of information; and some commentators said, because of that real possibility, that there would never be a proper investigation. Both George Hegarty and the veteran had known both men and because he had seen action in the ‘war zone’ of the six counties during the 70s, the request from the veteran IRA man to say nothing about Freddie Black carried a lot of weight with George Hegarty. He also told Don that while the Provos wouldn’t kill him (as the organisation had officially got rid of its arms and ceased activities three years earlier), the ‘Real ’RA’ probably would, as there were members of the dissident faction who’d never liked nor trusted Freddie Black.

‘John Corcoran had eight kids,’ George told Don, ‘and their lives were made miseries for something they never did.’ George went onto say that Freddie Black had children who were also innocent before he added, ‘If he gets shot, like what happened to Donaldson in Donegal, there’s more than him that will suffer and it could be the finish of the whole peace process.’

High-ranking Sinn Fein member Denis Donaldson had been exposed as operating as an MI5 informer for over twenty years before he was shot dead in a lonely cottage in Donegal in April 2006. No one had claimed responsibility for the assassination up until then but there were many who reckoned the shotgun had been fired by an Irish republican of some kind. The threat to Black’s life, and maybe even that of his mother, had been made very clear and Don made up his mind then that he wouldn’t divulge what he knew about Freddie Black to anyone, including his legal team.