‘Sean Hartnett’

‘Sean Hartnett’ is a pseudonym and its owner is a marked man. Born in Cork in the 1970s and despite being from a strong Republican background ‘Hartnett’ joined the British Army in 1998 and in 2001 was posted to Northern Ireland as a member of the elite Joint Communications Unit, Northern Ireland, known colloquially as ‘the FRU’. While there he was (covertly) involved in some of the most high profile events of the tail end of the ‘Troubles’. He told his story, to the consternation of the British establishment, in the best-selling memoir Charlie One in 2016. Since leaving the British Army he has been working in the world of commercial espionage and counter espionage, mostly in Ireland. In his follow-up, Corporate Confidential: Spooks, Secrets and Counter-Espionage in Celtic Tiger Ireland, due out in the autumn, he will lift the lid on surveillance and corruption in the years leading up to the ‘Great Bust’ of 2008, including an account of his undercover work for Anglo-Irish Bank. ‘Sean’ will be interviewed from a remote and secret location.  In conversation with Myles Dungan.