CIRA/RIRA planning a return to terror

Three stories from todays Sunday Life---


Fear as CIRA rebels link up

Exclusive by Stephen Breen
23 April 2006

RENEGADE republicans in Londonderry and Down last night vowed to step up their campaign of terror.

Sunday Life understands that members of the Continuity IRA have been working closely together in recent months.

Dissidents from south Down are believed to have travelled to the Derry/Donegal border for training and to receive arms for a fresh campaign of violence.

The weapons are understood to have included handguns and explosives.

The terror summits took place before a CIRA spokesman told crowds at an Easter Rising commemoration in Derry's Creggan area that the "armed struggle" would continue.

The threat comes after a suspected dissident bomb-making factory was discovered in Lurgan last week.

Republican dissidents in Derry and Down have also been active in recruiting young people to their ranks.

Many of those recruited include petty criminals who were previously targeted by the Provos before they ended their campaign of violence last July.

Although the dissidents have been thwarted by the security forces on many occasions, they are still believed to pose a high threat in the two counties.

Said a senior republican source: "CIRA leaders from the two counties have been in close contact in the past few months over their future plans. Other counties may be active, too, but these two counties consider themselves a lot stronger and that's why they want to kick-start their campaigns again.

East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell (above) expressed concerns over the threat of dissident republicans.

He said: "Dissident republicans pose a real threat to this society and I would urge the security forces to do all they can to bring these people to justice."


AND----


'Old' guard planning a new terror wave...

News analysis by Jim Cusack
23 April 2006

A 64-YEAR-OLD Limerick man who has rarely visited Northern Ireland leads the bizarre splinter group the Continuity IRA (CIRA) which is currently plotting a resumption of terrorism.

In Limerick and Dublin, the group supplies arms and explosives to local drug-gangs in return for cash.

The Garda have intercepted four under-car bombs that CIRA has sold to criminals and a similar number of under-car and anti-personnel devices have been discovered in Limerick.

CIRA is one of the oddest groups to have ever evolved from armed republicanism.

It contains both young and elderly idealists.

And in Dublin and Limerick, men, claiming to belong to CIRA, are heavily involved in the drugs trade, extortion and other forms of crime.

One of its Dublin members, Robbie Doolin, who acted in a number of RTE sitcoms, died after suffering a seizure caused by overuse of cocaine at a taxi depot in Dublin in August 2000.

While claiming to be the legitimate inheritors of the struggle for Irish freedom, gardai say that most of the organisation in the Republic is involved in ordinary crime.

It still, however, maintains a small core terror group which is bent on causing destruction in Ulster.

Two weeks ago, on Good Friday, gardai discovered an arms cache at Cratloe, Co Clare, on the outskirts of Limerick. It belonged to one of the most vicious gangs in the city.

The cache included a horizontal mortar of the type manufactured by the Provos from the late 1980s to the first ceasefire in 1994.

The Garda believe CIRA manufactured and sold the missile launcher to the "ordinary" criminals who planned to use it against Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick.

Senior gardai scratch their heads when they try to understand and explain why the Continuity IRA exists.

Around 40 of its members - including teenagers and men in their 60s - are currently being held in prison or before the courts in the Republic on charges which relate to CIRA activity.

Almost every time the tiny terror group plans something it is intercepted by police on either side of the border.

Yet, despite the fact that a high percentages of its members get arrested and go to jail, CIRA continues to exist and young men still appear to be attracted to its cause.

CIRA was created after the former president of Sinn Fein, Ruari O Bradaigh, walked away from Sinn Fein in 1986 after being defeated by the Gerry Adams-led faction of the party.

Adams and his supporters wanted to build a political base in the Republic as well as in Northern Ireland, but, according to the 'pure' republican, beliefs of O Bradaigh and his supporters it would be an offence for Sinn Fein to take seats in Dail Eireann, Stormont or Westminster.

According to republican folk lore, the only legitimate government of the whole island of Ireland resides in the IRA's Army Executive.

The Limerick man who leads CIRA believes that he and his "executive" - a group of middle-aged and elderly men - are the true and only inheritors of the only legitimate government of Ireland.

Like the south Armagh-based Real IRA, CIRA set out to foment civil strife in Northern Ireland by attacking a civilian target with a large bomb.

In July 1996, it exploded a bomb which destroyed the Killyhevlin Hotel in Enniskillen. Since then, CIRA has carried out a number of mainly-failed attacks in against civilians and security force targets.

The main impetus for the latest upturn in activity by CIRA comes from last summer's act of decommissioning by the Provisional IRA and its statement saying it would "cease all activities".

CIRA is now hoping to fill what it sees as a void left by what it sees as PIRA's defeat and capitulation and by Sinn Fein's "treacherous" act of taking seats in both the Stormont Assembly and the Dail.

And, in spite of its poor track record, it still appears to be attract recruits.

The riots in Dublin city centre against the Love Ulster march last month were led by CIRA figures.

The main concern of both the PSNI and gardai is that CIRA is filling a void left by the effective disbandment of the Provisional IRA and, eventually, it will succeed in carrying out a murderous act of terrorism.

• Jim Cusack writes extensively for the Independent newspaper group on security matters.

AND---


Dissidents braced for an upsurge in attacks

By Alan Murray
23 April 2006

FURTHER bomb attacks by the Continuity and Real IRA can be expected in the coming months, senior security sources said last night.

It's understood that more devices like the 250lb bomb seized in Lurgan last week are being planned.

And there are fears that one could slip through the security net and have catastrophic consequences similar to the 1988 Omagh bomb.

The Easter message issued by Republican Sinn Fein - warning that the Continuity IRA is still "active and dedicated" is being taken seriously in security circles on both sides of the border.

And while the Republic's justice minister, Michael McDowell, promised that the Garda and the "will of the people" would thwart dissident republican activity, it is acknowledged that there is a risk that one bomb could get through and cause major fatalities.

Just a week before the bomb factory in Lurgan was raided, another bomb was abandoned in Londonderry.

Mr McDowell said that those behind the recent upsurge in republican violence were intent on creating death and destruction.

"They believe, in some mad way, that this will advance the cause of a united Ireland."


Me thinks the horse boltd a long time before bLair closed the stable door......

I was down in Bessbrook Saturday & watched the RAF Puma going back & forth to the watchtower,dismantling it.The guy's home I was working in told me Queens Uni are moving into Bessbrook Mil..Look's like,judging by the news stories above,Jerry & Martin have achieved their goal of a British pull out.
Spike

 

Thanks Spike, that's cheered me up no end.

Nice to know the watchtowers are STILL being dismantled. Have the intelligence services been dismantled as well? Oh fcuk, it's who they report to.

Rolls eyes like Private Frazer "We're doomed!"

 

Thought this was always on the menu - the baton having merely been passed on so the ballot box could be used from the other side of the coin.

Not a suprise but neither is it a welcome wake up call either.

P

 

True,But it's one that our illustrious leader's seem to be ignoring.Maybe to their peril.Will another Omagh make them sit up & take note that the threat has'nt gone away but just sleeping?I certainly hope not!

 

It doesn't matter what they're called, it's the same people who've always been involved in terrorism; the only difference is that Bliar has given them an advantage by legitimising Sinn Fein and spreading the myth that there are no more republican terrorists because PIRA has given up its arms.

I fear that even another Omagh style atrocity won't detract Bliar from his mission to be known as the man who solved the Ulster problem - it would simply be papered over with claims of 'dissidents' being responsible. Anyhting else would reveal his pretence at running a government that doesn't deal with terrorists.

Perhaps the most incredible (in the true sense of the word) thing is that there aren't really many real players, and they 'represent' a tiny minority of the people of NI. If the political will was there, they could be dealt with, but whilst Bliar and Hain continue with their policy of appeasement, hamstringing the PSNI and reducing the military presence this will never happen. Sinn Fein/IRA have already proved that not only is terrorism effective with this government, they can just keep making demands and the government will keep on giving in.

 

Very true VB. And bLair has said as much that he want's rid of Ulster,albeit not in words but in his actions.bLair has'nt solved the Ulster problem,he's just passed the buck.

 

The Easter message issued by Republican Sinn Fein - warning that the Continuity IRA is still "active and dedicated" is being taken seriously in security circles on both sides of the border.

Surely if Sinn Fein/IRA want power sharing so much, they can actively and dedicatedly blow the whistle on the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA or would that offend their republican principles?

Sorry, what principles?

 

This analysis is entirely too simplistic - come on guys, you're far more intelligent than that. How has the Peace Agreement brought about a United Ireland? In other words, how have you managed to equate "Adams/McGuinness/IRA want a united Ireland = Blair rolls over like a poodle = Blair's going to handover Northern Ireland to the IRA" with the reality, which is the IRA of 20 years ago has now splintered like glass into different factions, none of whom have the same aims, most of whom are now pure criminals (in fact, most of whom were never involved in action against the British Army because they were too damn young) and with an increasing majority of people (of every religious persuasion) who just don't give a f*ck about the IRA/UVA/INLA/UVF or whatever a small bunch of psychotic men choose to do when they're not playing with themselves?

These morons are like rats in a corner with the walls closing in around them - if they're not killing each other, they're looking at killing anybody they can get their hands on - they don't have any political aims, they just need to kill because that is the only thing they have left to make their communities and the wider world pay them any attention.

I do agree with you completely about how to eliminate them however - reducing the resources of the PSNI is complete and utter madness. But don't forget the PSNI have no jurisdiction in Ireland so how you expect them to deal with lunatics in Limerick is beyond me.

 

Possibly but then Gerry & Martin might have relatives arrested or,hopefully,slotted!I've always wondered IF the SinnFein members still have active family members in such orginisations.

 

Make a good film though, brother fought against brother, father against son and the SAS shot the fcuking lot.

I'm only dreaming, sadly.

 

How do we know that Gerry and Martin are not members of the CIRA or the RIRA?

They are still terrorists. Just because they have been elected they are still the same enemy as they always have been. It is easy for them to claim anything they like, while having a new IRA up their sleves.

I would not trust either Gerry or Adams anymore that I trust anything that comes out of the mouth of Blair. After all why else did Blair send his terrorist supporting mate Hain to NI if not to show Gerry how much he is on message with SF/IRA?

 

Sorry I mean I would not trust gerry or Martin....

 

Viro Bono wrote
"won't detract Bliar from his mission to be known as the man who solved the Ulster problem"

The Man who solved the Ulster Problem.

Ahg, thinks I need a lie down.
john in state of shock