Clare Daly, the independent Dublin MEP, gave a Russian spy contact details for a paramilitary held liable for the Omagh bombing and facing extradition on terrorism charges, The Sunday Times can reveal.
Daly facilitated communication between Liam Campbell and Algirdas Paleckis, a Russian agent who was prosecuted by the Lithuanian security services for passing information to the Kremlin.
An investigation by The Sunday Times and the Dossier Centre, an investigative project which has been tracking the Paleckis case for several years, has confirmed Daly provided the spy with an email address on which Campbell could be reached in November 2021 after the agent suggested he was open to helping the republican dissident.
Paleckis later corresponded directly with Campbell, offering to put him in touch with friends who could help, should he be imprisoned. Paleckis was at the time under house arrest pending an appeal, while Campbell was fighting extradition to Lithuania, where he was wanted on terrorism charges that were ultimately dropped.
The communications took place when Russia’s intelligence services were trying to forge links to republican paramilitary organisations as part of wider efforts to destabilise the European Union.
Daly refused to comment when approached in Dublin city last week, having failed to respond to emails, texts and calls for months. When approached, she declined to accept a letter setting out questions and repeatedly refused to answer queries put directly to her.
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Today’s disclosure is likely to put Daly under intense pressure to explain her involvement in facilitating contacts between a mass killer and a Russian agent convicted for espionage. Polls suggest the MEP for Dublin will struggle to retain her seat at the European parliament, despite her toning down her position on Russia and Iran and being more vocal in condemning Israel’s war on Gaza.
Kevin Skelton, whose wife, Philomena, was killed in the bombing, described the MEP’s involvement with Campbell as an “insult” to the memories of those who died at Omagh, an atrocity aimed at collapsing the peace process.
“Liam Campbell was held responsible for the murder of 29 people and unborn babies. Clare Daly needs to stand up and explain her position, but let’s face it, she’s answerable to no one,” Skelton said. “I cannot believe any politician would facilitate communications between Liam Campbell and a Russian spy given what Moscow is up to these days.”
Victor Barker, who lost his 12-year-old son, James, in Omagh, said he could only describe Daly’s involvement with Campbell and a Russian agent as “unbelievable”.
The Sunday Times has previously revealed Daly’s role in the campaign to free Paleckis, who gave Moscow information on Lithuanian officers and judges linked to the January 13 case, when Russian officials were tried for involvement in a Soviet military crackdown in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, in January 1991.
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• From atrocity in Omagh to a tangle with a Russian spy
Daly, her political ally Mick Wallace and Tatjana Zdanoka, a Latvian MEP accused of collaborating with Russia, all helped to highlight the Paleckis case between 2021 and 2022 by organising protests, social media campaigns and issuing public statements.
Daly told the European parliament that Paleckis was prosecuted without a “shred of evidence” in a speech later posted on her official social media channels. She and Wallace travelled twice to Lithuania with Zdanoka, who is alleged to have worked with Russia’s FSB since 2005, which she denies.
Until now, Daly’s involvement in helping Campbell was not publicly known but the MEP has previously campaigned for dissident republicans who she claimed were victims of injustice. She once offered to stand bail for a dissident accused of plotting a bombing during a visit to Ireland by Prince Charles.
