SAOIRSE32

Henry McDonald
Guardian
September 03 2008

Background to the provisional army council

The IRA’s army council is a republican paramilitary version of the old Soviet Union politburo.

Just as in the Soviet Union, where a small clique of men decided on life and death matters over millions, since the mid-1980s (with a few exceptions) seven men have determined the direction of the IRA.

Theocratic interpretations of Irish republicanism deem that this body, known by its full name of provisional army council, or PAC, constitutes the real government of Ireland. Because hardliners regarded the Irish Free State formed by Michael Collins in 1921 and Eamon de Valera’s later governments as apostates who abandoned republican purity and embraced constitutional politics, those who remained loyal to the original Irish republic envisaged by the rebels of 1916 were deemed the true, authentic government of Ireland.

Of course, such dogma was far removed from the realities of Ireland, north and south, after the Irish civil war. In what became the Irish Republic, the southern population became accustomed to and ultimately loyal to the state, even if republicans regarded it as wholly illegitimate because it left out the six counties of what had become Northern Ireland.

Yet the notion of the purist “government in internal exile” gave the army council down the years an almost mystical quality that demanded loyalty within the hardline republican community. It meant that from the genesis of the Troubles in 1969, when the Provisionals emerged from a split within the IRA, the movement would be ruled on a top-down basis, with no one within the ranks questioning the decisions of its leadership.

Paradoxically, while this small, unelected band of men waged a campaign of terror that never had the support of the majority of nationalist Ireland, its tight military structure and close-knit nature helped the modern republican movement reverse out of the cul de sac of armed struggle.

Decisions to inch the IRA, and by association Sinn Fein, away from violence were taken by a relatively small elite group headed by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. There is now plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest much of this process was kept secret from the IRA’s rank and file, at least until it was too late to go into reverse and plunge Ireland back into the Troubles.

Privately, the British and Irish governments and their security organs admit that it was better that this creeping process towards normal politics was directed by such a tightly bound, secretive and small body of men.

In addition, they point to the danger of the unionists getting hung up on insisting this same body be dissolved — not just because the army council delivered an end to the campaign but also because of the impracticality of monitoring whether seven men in a room, ex-army council members, constitute any kind of threat in the future.

The trouble with Northern Ireland politics is that the symbol is almost as important as the substance, if not more so. Unionists such as Peter Robinson need the symbol of the army council’s dissolution to convince supporters they are not selling out. Conversely, the men who run an IRA that is no longer active do not want their members to perceive disbandment of the body once believed to be the true government of Ireland as being a humiliating defeat.

News Letter
4 September 2008

GARDAI have arrested a man in Co Louth in connection with the murder of south Armagh man Paul Quinn.
The 50-year old is currently being held at Monaghan Garda station after being arrested in Dundalk on Thursday morning.

Paul Quinn, 21, was beaten to death last October across the border in derelict farm buildings in Co Monaghan.

Last month, PSNI and Gardai were involved in a sustained operation, questioning a total of 10 individuals, all of whom were released without charge.

The IRA have been blamed for the Cullyhanna man’s brutal murder, a claim denied by Sinn Fein.

Ballymoney Times
4 September 2008

A REPUBLICAN group in north Antrim has slammed criticism of the sale of Bobby Sands tee-shirts at the Lammas Fair.

Several people hit out at the sale of political items at the Fair saying the event had a proud reputation for attracting all sections of the community and they felt a ‘neutral’ atmosphere should be maintained.
But in a statement to the Times, the North Antrim 1981 H-Block Committee said: “Was it a day for the whole community in Ballycastle when Loyalists tried to blow it up a few years ago?”

The statement added: “At the present moment in time, we have Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Jennifer Anniston, and Alec Baldwin to name just a few, along with many other celebrities from across the world heading to the Toronto Film Festival just to see the film about the final six weeks in the life of Bobby Sands.

“On the other hand we have Mervyn Storey and a shocked visitor to the Fair who say they were disgusted at the T-Shirts they saw on sale at a stall on Quay Road.

“Do Mr Storey and the shocked visitor ever attend Nutts Corner Market on a Sunday, where Republicans are constantly having Loyalist memorabilia, including that of loyalist killers, some of whom who tried to explode a car bomb at the Fair not so many years ago, being shoved in their face every week? Would this not be a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

“Bobby Sands and his comrades were in a war situation (even Mr Storey called it the “old war”) in the North of Ireland for many years, and without men and women like this I dread to think the situation Republicans would find themselves in today.

“These are iconic figures that Republicans admire for their commitment and courage, and let’s not forget some of these men were elected reps both in the Six Counties and the Twenty Six Counties.

“To myself and the wider Republican community here in North Antrim, and lets remind Mr Storey that we are growing rapidly in this area, we will never forget the courage that Bobby and his comrades had, and we will continue to commemorate these brave soldiers for many years to come, just as I’m sure the “nutts” at the corner will with their colleagues.

“The stall at which the t-shirts were on sale was off the main road and highly recognisable with Irish Tri-colours on all sides of it, so why on earth did they go to it in the first place?

“After 27 years, I’m still glad to see everyone is still taking an interest in what happened at that traumatic time,” the statement said.

First Post
SEPTEMBER 3, 2008

Philip Jacobson on how extremist Republicans are still trying to derail the NI peace process

In the ten years since the Good Friday agreement brokered by Tony Blair kick-started the peace process, Northern Ireland has made impressive progress towards a deal acceptable on both sides of what was once a bitter sectarian divide.

With the major political parties onside, and the Provisional IRA and the main Protestant paramilitary groups abandoning violence, there was an almost tangible sense of optimism among the many friends whom I made as a journalist covering the worst of ‘the Troubles’. But now concern is growing about the threat posed by armed Republican factions who remain bitterly opposed to the power-sharing arrangements that underpin the entire peace agreement.

A foot patrol had a lucky escape after a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at them, but failed to detonate

Although a report to be published today says that the IRA’s Army Council - which has never been dissolved - poses no threat, a senior security official has told The First Post that “dissident” Republican groups are deliberately targeting Catholic members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in a bid to deter potential recruits from the Nationalist community. The seven attacks that have taken place so far include one that saw a Catholic officer shot and wounded: another was shot at outside a police station and a number of serving officers have had to move home after they and their families came under surveillance by known extremist elements.

The most recent attack on police occurred last week when a masked sniper fired five shots at officers responding to telephoned bomb warnings during violent rioting on a housing estate in the town of Craigavon, south of Belfast. The local PSNI commander denounced this as “a deliberate attempt to murder my officers” after they had been drawn into the area. Ten days earlier, a foot patrol near the border with the Irish Republic had a lucky escape after a rocket-propelled grenade fired at them by a man who had jumped from a passing car failed to detonate.

Subsequent forensic tests on the weapon’s warhead detected the presence of Semtex, the powerful plastic explosive that was used extensively by Provisional IRA bomb makers. In June, a massive home-made landmine concealed in a milk churn would almost certainly have killed two PSNI officers who had been lured into the vicinity had its trigger mechanism not malfunctioned.

People have become accustomed to seeing former top Provisionals appearing on television in a suit and tie

According to security sources, the threat from dissident factions is now so great that MI5 - which has primary responsibility for counter-terrorism in Northern Ireland - deploys more of its electronic surveillance resources against them than in operations against Islamic militant cells in the UK.

Most of the attacks on police are attributed to the Real IRA, the ruthless splinter group that carried out the Omagh bombing which killed 29 people a decade ago, whose leaders have never been brought to court for that atrocity.

The group is believed to be composed of between 80-100 activists, including a hard-core of former Provisionals who remain committed to violence, with several hundred more supporters providing occasional back-up support. An alleged member of the Real IRA is currently awaiting trial in Lithuania on charges of attempting to procure arms and explosives.

Beyond the dissident groups, however, there has always been a solid bedrock of popular support for the measures set out in the Good Friday agreement. After the initial shock, people have become accustomed to seeing former top Provisionals such as Martin McGuinness – now the province’s Education Minister and deputy First Minister - appearing on their television screen in suit and tie.

Shaun Woodward, the minister responsible for Northern Ireland matters in Westminster, observed recently that resolving the policing and judicial issues would effectively complete the process of devolving political power. “I don’t think it is by chance that we are seeing more dissident violence than we have at any time over the past four or five years,” Woodward noted. “They think their time is running out and they’re right, because they don’t belong in the new Northern Ireland.”

By Mark Simpson
BBC
4 September 2008

As It is just like old times at Stormont with talk of deadlines, deadlock and dialogue.

Although the devolved administration may be in jeopardy, there is no apparent danger that the peace process - or the ceasefires - will collapse.

There are testing times ahead for those at Stormont

Indeed, the biggest threat comes not from the barrel of an IRA or loyalist gun, but, perhaps, from political complacency.

One Stormont insider who has watched the parties embrace devolution warned: “It is not indestructible. But if you treat it like it is indestructible, you could destroy it.”

It is difficult to believe the First Minister Peter Robinson and the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness really want the power-sharing arrangements to crumble.

Yes, their respective parties - the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein - are bitterly divided on a number of issues, but it is hard to imagine either walking away from office. Politicians tend to fight to cling onto power, rather than want to throw it away.

‘Get real’

Yet Northern Ireland wouldn’t be Northern Ireland without an annual trip to the political brink. And that looks like what could be happening.

All sides were agreed that the report on the IRA by the Independent Monitoring Commission was hugely significant, but Peter Robinson insisted that it wasn’t quite enough.

Rather than simply hearing that the IRA is currently inactive, he wants to hear them say that they are “out of business for good”.

But that does not seem likely to happen any time soon.

“We need to get real,” was the pointed response of Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams.

Never mind what unionists want, republicans have their own shopping list ready for the next round of talks between the parties.

High on that list are the devolution of policing and justice powers to Stormont, education reform and new laws relating to the use of the Irish language.

Crisis looming?

On the face of it, it is possible to see a compromise in which both Sinn Fein and the unionists get some of what they want. There is a way - but is there a will?

Does Peter Robinson want to start his career as successor to the Rev Ian Paisley by giving any concessions to Sinn Fein?

Are the IRA likely to issue a new statement just because the new leader of unionism tells them to do so?

The more you think about it, the more you realise that this current dispute could mushroom into a full-blown political crisis.

However, even if the power-sharing executive did collapse, few believe it would take long to put back together again. In recent years, the political process has been like a game of snakes and ladders, with big falls usually followed swiftly by climbs back upwards.

Whatever their differences, Northern Ireland’s politicians are agreed on one thing - problems are best resolved by words not guns.

Stand by for a war of words at Stormont in the coming weeks.

News Letter
4 September 2008

PUBLIC representatives have been reacting to the report by the Independent Monitoring Commission on the status of the IRA army council.

Northern Ireland Secretary of State - Shaun Woodward

“This ground breaking report by the IMC makes clear that the Army Council is now redundant.

“Crucially the IMC concludes that ‘PIRA has completely relinquished the leadership and other structures appropriate to a time of armed conflict’.

“In the last few years we have seen huge progress in the political process. Today’s Report is a major event in this process. PIRA should now not just be judged by what it said it would do, but today by what the IMC tells us it has done.”

UUP deputy leader - Danny Kennedy

“Today’s IMC Report stands in a long line of such reports – each of which progressively indicated the Provisional IRA being consigned to the history books.

“The Ulster Unionist Party’s original decision to push for the creation of the IMC – in the face of criticism from the DUP – has been vindicated. Without the IMC in place, we would have no watchdog to report on the Republican movement’s commitment to abide by the normal rules of democratic politics.

“Today’s report does give grounds for believing that the Provisional IRA has permanently abandoned the ways of violence and that its terrorist structures and organisations have, in the words of the report, ‘ceased to function’.

“In other words, three decades of so-called ‘armed struggle’, during which PIRA brought death, misery, suffering and division to the streets of Northern Ireland, have come to this – ‘PIRA has completely relinquished the leadership and other structures appropriate to a time of conflict’.”

TUV leader - Jim Allister

“Today’s IMC Report, despite all its Jesuitical verbiage, is unable to say the IRA Army Council is gone – in spite of the fact that the DUP told us it would have to go before they entered government with their political wing.

“The IMC’s pitiful whitewashing comments, following the brutal murder of Paul Quinn, demonstrated to all who were interested that it had become yet another pawn of the political process. Today’s effort confirms its compliant role.

“Only when the gangsters of militant republicanism have been hunted down and brought to justice will the people of Northern Ireland know that a truly just peace has been obtained.”

Alliance Party Justice spokesperson - Stephen Farry

“This report delivers further reassurance that the IRA continues to pose no threat to the peace process and to wider society. There is now a step-change in the clarification that the Army Council is no longer operating or serving any purpose.

“These conclusions should give confidence to further efforts to stabilise our political structures.

“At the same time, we must not lose sight of the overarching imperative of the removal of all paramilitary organisations and structures from our society. They are not consistent with a normal, democratic society, which operates to the rule of law and respects human rights.”

SDLP leader - Mark Durkan

“This IMC report confirms that the vestigial existence of an IRA Army Council is not a latent threat to peace or democracy.

“Such a redundant entity should not be used as an excuse to prevent progress to the completion of devolution. They are neither a force of arms nor a source of threat.

“The real and active threat to police personnel, to peace and democracy, is coming from so called dissident republicans.”

RTÉ
3 September 2008

A man was shot in both legs last night after a gang burst into his home in west Belfast.

Four men entered the house on Laburnum Row in the Twinbrook area of the city at around 10.30pm.

Police are investigating possible paramilitary involvement in the incident.

The man’s condition is described as not life-threatening.

Belfast Telegraph
3 September 2008

The security alert at Maghaberry Prison has ended. A suspect package which was received in the post has now been declared a hoax.

Visitors to the high security jail were trapped inside during the alert.

Army bomb disposal experts were called to Maghaberry Prison in County Antrim after the package was delivered in the post and was declared suspicious.

Wires and batteries were spotted as it was put through a scanner at a perimeter gate.

A spokesman for the Prison Service said about 70 visitors were unable to get to their cars and leave until the alert was over.

Afternoon visits now have been re-instated.

SHAWN POGATCHNIK
Washington Times
September 3, 2008

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND (AP) - The Irish Republican Army is fading away in Northern Ireland and poses no security threat to the British territory, international experts concluded Wednesday in another landmark for peacemaking.

The governments of Britain and Ireland heralded the report of the Independent Monitoring Commission as the effective obituary of the IRA. Both appealed to local British Protestant leaders to accept the experts’ verdict and deepen, not weaken, their cooperation with Irish Catholics in a partnership government.

The 16-month-old coalition in Belfast has been threatening to unravel amid myriad disputes fueled, in part, by Protestant demands for the IRA to disappear following more than a decade of cease-fire.

British, Irish and Catholic leaders declared that the report from the four fact-finders _ which include former directors of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Scotland Yard’s anti-terror unit _ should eliminate the IRA as a diplomatic barrier.

“This is a very important day … and a moment when we should draw a line,” said Britain’s secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Shaun Woodward.

“This report demonstrates not only that PIRA has gone away, but that it won’t be coming back,” said Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, using the outlawed group’s full formal name of Provisional IRA.

And Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, whose party grew out of the IRA and today represents most Catholics in Northern Ireland, said the question of the IRA’s future “has been dealt with definitively. This issue is gone.”

But leaders of the major Protestant party, the Democratic Unionists, said they would not be rushed into developing greater trust in Sinn Fein, because the IRA could merely be hibernating.

First Minister Peter Robinson, who leads both the power-sharing administration and the Democratic Unionist Party, reiterated his long-standing demand for the IRA command, officially called the “army council,” to announce its own disbandment.

He said the IRA army council must change “from a body that is not meeting to one that will never meet again,” and Sinn Fein leaders must convince Protestants “that the IRA is out of business for good.”

Power-sharing, the intended centerpiece of Northern Ireland’s Good Friday peace accord of 1998, is facing renewed threats to its survival. The biggest dispute concerns whether Britain should transfer control of Northern Ireland’s police and justice system to local hands, something that the British and Sinn Fein had both wanted to happen by May.

The Democratic Unionists are blocking this move, and Sinn Fein in turn has been blocking Cabinet meetings for the past three months. A confrontation looms at their next scheduled session Sept. 18 _ and Sinn Fein has already warned it could withdraw from the administration if the dispute isn’t resolved then.

In their report, the experts concluded that the IRA’s seven-man army council was “no longer operational or functional” but it would not publicly announce resignations, retirements or disbandment.

The Provisional IRA killed about 1,775 people during a failed 1970-97 campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. In 2005, the group completed the handover of its hidden weapons dumps to disarmament officials and renounced violence for political purposes.

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On the Net:

Report: http://www.nio.gov.uk/19th_imc_report.pdf