The Irish Independent newspaper has acquired 1,900 classified cables from the American Embassy in Ireland via Wikileaks which reveals how information is achieved by US diplomats from Irish sources.
 
The cables reveal the full extent of the very extensive briefings which US embassy personnel receive from senior Irish diplomatic and political sources.
 
Among the cables is a reported conversation with former Irish government minister Mary Hanafin from Fianna Fail who spoke frankly about problems with their coalition partners, the Greens.
 
The word “PROTECT” was used beside her name in the cables.
 
She told her source  she had the impression that, “if some of the Greens had their way, the Programme for Government would emphasize ‘hares, stags and badgers while everyone else in the country is drowning in this economy’,” US Ambassador Dan Rooney told Washington in the cable.
 
Hanafin told the newspaper that she was giving a “a frank update on the state of politics in the country at that time”.
 
Other cables show that US embassy officials had top level access to information on events in Ireland and were often briefed before the opposition was or the public was fully aware of upcoming events. 
 
The cables run from 1985 to 2010 before the election victory of the current government.