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(Note: Easter function tonight with Shebeen (irish rebel music) Andytown Leisure Centre, 7pm, £5, Late bar)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7996056.stm
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has condemned dissidents for attempting to hijack the "republican future".
Mr Adams told an Easter Rising commemoration in west Belfast that peaceful and democratic means were the only way to achieve a united Ireland.
"No one is entitled to hijack our proud republican history, and our republican future, and abuse it for narrow, selfish interests," he said.
Rallies were also held in Londonderry, Fermanagh, Mayo and Dublin.
http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2009/apr/12/exclusive-real-ira-we-will-take-campaign-to-britai/
Suzanne Breen, Northern Editor
The Real IRA has claimed responsibility for killing Sinn Féin's former chief administrator at Stormont and long-serving British spy, Denis Donaldson and threatened to carry out attacks in Britain "when it becomes opportune".
In an interview with the Sunday Tribune, a representative of the Real IRA Army Council revealed exclusive details of Donaldson's murder and of the gun attack on Massereene British Army base in which two soldiers were killed.
The Sunday Tribune today prints the statement which includes a stinging denunciation of Sinn Féin deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, who has branded the hardline republicans as "traitors".
Donaldson was murdered at a remote Co Donegal cottage three years ago. Until now, the identity of his assassins, and their exact motivation, has remained a mystery. The Real IRA is due to publicly admit killing Donaldson at a 32 County Sovereignty Movement Easter commemoration in Derry tomorrow.
A "member of the republican movement" is to read out a statement in which the Real IRA threatens to kill young Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) recruits if they don't leave the force, and issues a "final warning" to civilians providing services to police to stop or be "executed".
'Tactical use of armed struggle'
When asked if the Real IRA planned to attack Britain, the Army Council representative stated: "When it becomes opportune.'' He said that the Real IRA's strategy is not to return to a sustained campaign of violence but to "engage in tactical use of armed struggle".
"The days of a campaign involving military operations every day or every few days, are over," the Army Council representative said. "We're looking for high-profile targets, though we'll obviously take advantage when other targets present themselves."
In the Real IRA's first interview post-Massereene, its spokesman said: "Taking military action against Sinn Féin leaders who are British ministers, or who urge nationalists to inform on us, isn't high on our agenda at the moment. However, that isn't to say this position won't change and, indeed change quickly, under certain circumstances."
The Real IRA Easter statement says: "A former comrade [Martin McGuinness] has come full circle and, with a knight of the British realm [PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde] at his shoulder, he has labelled our gallant volunteers as traitors to justify his Redmondite stance and home rule politics.
"Let us remind our former comrade of the nature and actions of a traitor. Treachery is collaborating with the enemy, treachery is betraying your country. Let us give our one- time comrade an example. Denis Donaldson was a traitor and the leadership of the Provisional movement, under guidance from the British government, made provision for Donaldson to escape republican justice in the same manner as Freddie Scappaticci.
"It fell to the volunteers of Óglaigh na hÉireann to carry out the sentence and punishment demanded in our Army Orders and by the wider republican family. No traitor will escape justice regardless of time, rank or past actions. The republican movement has a long memory."
The Army Council representative said two Real IRA members, armed with a sledgehammer and a shotgun, broke down the door of Donaldson's cottage: "He just ran into the back room. There was a struggle, and he ended up on the ground. He didn't cry out or plead for mercy. He remained silent all the time."
The Real IRA said it wanted to hunt down all ex-informers. Its "prime target" is British agent, Freddie Scappaticci, who formerly ran the Provisional IRA's internal security and was responsible for the death and imprisonment of scores of republicans.
The Army Council representative claimed that although several guns had been seized in police raids following Massereene, the two weapons used to kill the soldiers hadn't been found.
Security experts were surprised the Massereene getaway car hadn't been burned out. The Real IRA spokesman said: "The car was doused in petrol. It was ablaze when our volunteers left the scene. Because a window hadn't been left open, the fire burned itself out."
In a chilling warning that nationalist youth who join the PSNI are in danger, the Real IRA statement says: "Let us be clear so there is no further ambiguity on the matter: any young person fool enough to join the colonial police in the belief that the leadership of the Provisional movement will protect them, or give them cover, is sadly mistaken."
April 12, 2009
http://www.tribune.ie/article/2009/apr/12/how-real-ira-killed-denis-donaldson/
The Real IRA say they want to kill five named men who informed on the provos' activities. They also claim here how they killed Denis Donaldson, whose assassination in Co Donegal they describe as a 'matter of principle', writes Northern Editor Suzanne Breen
Real IRA Representative - 'We always intended to claim the operation [killing of Denis Donaldson] but we wanted to wait until we had first executed crown force personnel. That was secured at Massereene'
Gardaí investigate the scene at Donaldson's house near Glenties, Co Donegal after the killing in 2006
Real IRA members on a training exercise
Denis Donaldson didn't scream when the two masked men sledgehammered down the door and forced their way into his cottage with a loaded shotgun. "The look on his face wasn't even one of shock. He seemed to know what was coming," says the Real IRA Army Council representative.
Had he cried out for help, no-one would have heard. His nearest neighbour in the remote lane outside Glenties, Co Donegal, was two kilometres away. His wife Alice, who still lived in west Belfast, and his grown-up children, visited regularly. But his killers had Donaldson under surveillance. When they struck, they knew he was alone.
Donaldson was totally vulnerable. He didn't have a personal protection weapon. "He had no plan to defend himself. He hadn't a baseball or hurley bat, a knife or anything like that at hand," says the Real IRA spokesman.
"He just ran into the back room. There was a struggle, and he ended up on the ground. He didn't cry out or plead for mercy. He remained silent all the time." Donaldson was killed by the Real IRA gunman as he lay on the floor, according to the Army Council representative.
Donaldson's right hand was virtually severed in the shooting. There was some media speculation that this was symbolical because of the money he'd taken from the British for his services. "That wasn't so," says the Army Council spokesman. "His hand was blown away because he'd raised it to protect his head." The attack was over in minutes.
Donaldson wasn't tortured, as previous informers have been. Neither was there any attempt to question him. The Real IRA didn't consider abducting and interrogating him: "There was no need to debrief him because he'd done no damage to our organisation."
Embarrassment to the Provos
Initially, the killing looked amateurish because of the use of the shotgun. But it was more professional than it appeared. Used at close quarters, a shotgun is lethal and is virtually forensically untraceable.
It's just over three years since his killers left Donaldson lying on the floor of his pre-Famine cottage, hidden in the Doochary hills. The Army Council representative claims he was shot on the night of 3 April, and not the following morning as some media reports stated. He says a neighbour, who claimed to have seen Donaldson the next morning, was "mistaken".
But it wasn't until the evening of 4 April that a passer-by, noticing the damage to the front of the cottage, contacted gardaí and his body was discovered. Four months earlier, Donaldson (56), Sinn Féin's chief administrator at Stormont, had admitted being a long-serving British spy.
Provisional IRA members, acting either independently or with leadership authorisation, were the most likely suspects for his murder. Days after the killing, sources close to the Real IRA told this reporter they didn't believe dissidents were responsible. Donaldson alive was an embarrassment to the Provos. They couldn't see a reason for dissidents to kill him. So why did the Real IRA do so?
The Real IRA representative says its seven-strong Army Council debated at length whether to kill Donaldson: "Some individuals thought it was better propaganda value keeping him alive because it increased grassroots Provisionals' dissatisfaction with their leadership.
"They were angry at Donaldson's treachery and angry at their leadership for not executing him, for letting him slip off to Donegal unharmed. The Provisional Army Council did a dirty deal with Donaldson like they did with Freddie Scappaticci.
"But the other argument put forward among our leadership was, that by executing Donaldson, we could show – unlike the Provos – that we weren't prepared to tolerate traitors. We would prove that while the Provos shirked their duty under the green book [IRA rulebook], true and faithful republicans would not."
'They haven't a clue'
The Army Council representative is dismissive of the garda investigation into Donaldson's murder: "We don't believe it's going anywhere. They haven't a clue." Gardaí insist the investigation remains alive.
But why has the Real IRA waited three years to claim responsibility? Until now, there wasn't even a whisper that the organisation was involved. "Only a dozen people knew we executed Donaldson – our Army Council and the volunteers involved. Our wider membership will be as surprised by our statement as everybody else," says the spokesman.
"We always intended to claim the operation but we wanted to wait until we had first executed crown force personnel. That was secured at Massereene. The time is particularly right now, when we're being accused of treachery by others, to show what we do to traitors."
The Army Council representative says Donaldson's killing wasn't due to a personal grudge against him: "None of the information he gave his handlers affected our organisation. While some in our leadership knew him from their days in the Provisionals, he hadn't personally harmed them. But he was a self-confessed informer, and it became a matter of principle to execute him."
An eye for women
Donaldson had joined the IRA in the mid-1960s. He grew up in the Short Strand, a small nationalist enclave in east Belfast. In 1971, he was sentenced to 10 years in Long Kesh for explosive offences. There, he became friends with Bobby Sands. There are photographs of Donaldson, Sands, and other IRA men, arms locked around each other in camaraderie.
After his release, he became involved with Sinn Féin but he remained active in the IRA. As a senior intelligence officer, he travelled the world to meet organisations like the PLO and ETA, providing valuable information for his handlers. In the 1990s, he was sent to run the Noraid office in New York, clashing with its publicity director, Martin Galvin, who came to doubt his motives.
Donaldson was a highly sociable, popular character with an eye for women. He was very close to Gerry Adams. He wasn't intellectual but smart in a streetwise way.
His pleasant, modest manner meant he sat in on numerous confidential conversations. No-one suspected him. "Ach, it's only Denis!" they'd say.
There were rumours he'd been blackmailed by the security services into working for them after he was caught stealing from Marks & Spencer as a young man. However, that didn't explain why he remained in their employment for so long. After his admission in December 2005 that he'd been a spy for well over two decades, Donaldson was questioned at length by Sinn Féin figures.
He later received assurances from the Provisional Army Council that his life wasn't in danger. So he moved to the Donegal cottage he'd previously used as a holiday home. The Real IRA's admission that it killed him means other informers, living in Britain or abroad, are now under threat.
Prime target
The Real IRA spokesman claims its prime target is long-serving British agent, Freddie Scappaticci, who formerly ran Provisional IRA internal security, and whose information led to the death and imprisonment of scores of republicans.
"Other targets would be P**** ****** [an informer whose alias is Kevin Fulton], Martin McGartland, Christopher Black, Raymond Gilmour and Dave Rupert," he says. Rupert, an FBI-MI5 agent, was paid millions for successfully infiltrating the Real IRA. His testimony led to the conviction of former Real IRA leader, Mickey McKevitt.
Missing from the Army Council representative's stated list of 'targets' is Paddy Murray, a Provisional IRA member who later joined the Real IRA. He was jailed for abduction and assault last year but was later spirited out of Maghaberry prison.
Although Murray and his family have protested his innocence, he is now widely believed to have been an informer. He is reportedly living under a witness protection scheme in Britain. The Real IRA refuses to comment on his status, however it is likely to be pursuing him despite its silence.
The paramilitary group's threats against informers will further increase the pressure on many men who, years after leaving the North, are still living on their nerves.
April 12, 2009
http://www.tribune.ie/article/2009/apr/12/terrorism-has-no-place-in-modern-ireland/
The language of the unreconstructed republican terrorist that permeates Northern Editor Suzanne Breen's exclusive Sunday Tribune interview with a representative of the army council of the Real IRA catapults the reader to a painful past where death and murder were the grief-laden punctuation of political events.
The drone-like ideology informing the interview and the text of the speech to be delivered in the Easter Rising commemoration in the City Cemetery in Derry tomorrow by a "member of the Republican movement" offer a worrying insight into the new tactics the Real IRA intends to pursue.
The detail in the descriptions of the murder of republican informer Denis Donaldson, and the gunning down of soldiers Mark Quinsey (23) and Patrick Azimkar (21) and two men delivering pizzas, is as repulsive as it is chilling. The murder of Donaldson three years ago is described in photographic detail. Donaldson's end was horrifying. "He just ran into the back room. There was a struggle, and he ended up on the ground. He didn't cry out or plead for mercy. He remained silent all the time."
The Provisonal IRA, on whom he had informed for 20 years, had guaranteed his safety as he lived an impoverished life in a Donegal farm cottage. The Real IRA, created as a result of various splits within the Provisional leadership over the 1997 ceasefire and peace process, was clearly still bitter and vengeful.
The 99% of people who, in this country, believe in the rule of law and the right only of constitutional institutions to enforce it, will be heartened to know there was some discussion among the Real IRA army council before the decision was taken to hunt Denis Donaldson down and murder him. As the Real IRA debated Donaldson's fate, we learn they were split over whether he should live or die. Some thought he should be left alone as an embarrassment to the Provos. Others felt he had to be killed in order to instil total loyalty in all members. The hard men won. Donaldson had been a key player in the Good Friday agreement, arguing for participation in the peace process. In the world of the Real IRA, that, as much as enforcing loyalty within their own organisation, would have been as big a treachery.
Traitors are everywhere in the distorted world of the Real IRA. They include the current Sinn Féin leadership because of their participation in powersharing and recognition of the PSNI as the legal police force of the north. They include elected representatives north and south, police officers from both communities, civilians carrying out ordinary daily lives in the north if they have dealings with the "crown forces", civilians in Britain for being born to a "colonial" power.
They include the massed thousands who, after Massereene and after the Continuity IRA murder of PSNI constable Stephen Carroll, took to the streets of the north to reclaim them as peaceful. "We have nothing to say about the peace rallies. They have no effect on us."
Martin McGuinness, because of his IRA past and because of his unequivocal support for a political present, is particularly reviled and is the target for veiled threats.
What galls them most is that McGuinness outmanoeuvred the Real IRA after Massereene. His eloquent denial of their cause – as well as that symbolic picture of him standing firm with Peter Robinson and Hugh Orde – was the moment in history, not the fact that a tiny dissident group managed to kill two soldiers.
His appeal to disaffected youngsters in some of the north's poorest urban enclaves not to join the dissident movements must be reinforced politically and financially. There are many nationalist areas of Belfast that have not benefited enough from the peace process. Their needs are ignored at everyone's peril.
The Real IRA is trying to wrap itself up in history now, particularly at this time of year. Its Easter message is a masterclass in republican hoodoo. But last Friday was the 11th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement, that "jump together" that we all took. The resultant agreements and institutions, the cross-border cooperation in terms of security and policing, as well as politics, enterprise and culture must be treated as the priority they remain. There is still so much hurt and blame attached to the violence in the north that immense political efforts, cooperation and restraint have to be maintained continuously to steady nerves that result from acts of terror that, like Massereene, get through the security net.
These are tough times, as the budget has just shown. The expenditure, north and south, that underpins the peace dividend is worth every penny in terms of lives saved from the bullet and bomb – and lives rebuilt in a time of peace. Terrorism and thuggery have no place in post-Celtic Tiger Ireland.
April 12, 2009
http://www.tribune.ie/article/2009/apr/12/statement-from-the-real-ira-to-be-read-out-at-the-/
'The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann send fraternal greetings to our friends and comrades at home and overseas, especially to those incarcerated by the enemy here in Ireland and further afield.
"Special mention must be made of the families of our POWs. Their resilience in the face of adversity inspires us all. We would remind republicans that, at this time of commemoration, we have a special duty to all POWs and their dependents. We send solidarity greetings to all those revolutionaries fighting to defend the sovereignty of their nations.
"History has shown us that compromise with the British on the issue of national sovereignty has always resulted in those who have compromised condemning those who continue to uphold and defend Irish sovereignty.
"Our struggle is against the British occupation forces and the administrative arm of the British government in Ireland – be they in the RUC/PSNI, the NIO [Northern Ireland Office], or the quislings in Stormont [the DUP-Sinn Féin Executive]. The same has happened in Iraq and Afghanistan: those who assist the occupier always condemn the occupied. However, seldom in such blatant or hysterical terms as we have witnessed recently.
"A former comrade [Martin McGuinness] has come full circle and, with a knight of the British realm [Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde] at his shoulder, he has labelled our gallant volunteers as traitors to justify his Redmondite stance and home rule politics.
"Let us remind our former comrade of the nature and the actions of a traitor. Treachery is collaborating with the enemy, treachery is betraying your country. Let us give our one-time comrade an example. Denis Donaldson was a traitor and the leadership of the Provisional movement, under guidance from the British government, made provision for Donaldson to escape republican justice in the same manner as Freddie Scappaticci.
"It fell to the volunteers of Óglaigh na hÉireann to carry out the sentence and punishment demanded in our Army Orders and by the wider republican family. No traitor will escape justice regardless of time, rank or past actions. The republican movement has a long memory.
"Recent years have seen the reorganisation and restructuring of Óglaigh na hÉireann. This is continuing and is constantly evolving and being refined to keep abreast of enemy developments in technology and modes of war. It is vital that volunteers educate themselves in such developments and take the necessary steps to safeguard themselves and their comrades.
"Actions by volunteers of Óglaigh na hÉireann in the last year have proved that the tactical use of armed struggle can, and does, bring results. As was witnessed in Antrim, British soldiers and the colonial police will continue to lose their lives as long as the issue of national sovereignty remains unresolved. Óglaigh na hÉireann will continue to strike at the British occupation forces wherever and whenever we decide.
"We also reserve the right to execute anyone providing services, in any shape or form, to the enemy. Those who assist the occupiers have placed themselves in harm's way. They know what they need to do to extricate themselves from a situation of their own making. There will be no further warnings.
"The same goes for the RUC/PSNI. Let us be clear so there is no further ambiguity on the matter: any young person fool enough to join the colonial police in the belief that the leadership of the Provisional movement will protect them, or give them cover, is sadly mistaken. The RUC/PSNI are a British police force, just like the old RIC [Royal Irish Constabulary].
"Like the RIC, some in their ranks portray themselves as Irish and there to protect and serve their communities. In reality, they are the first line of defence for the British government. They are being used to spy, arrest, interrogate, brutalise and uphold foreign laws against fellow Irishmen.
"By such actions, they forfeit any right to call themselves Irish. Once you don the uniform of your British paymaster, you become its instrument. He who pays the piper calls the tune.
"The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann urges republicans to be vigilant in the time ahead. We have no doubt that the British Army and colonial police will seek to once again spill republican blood for recent attacks on their ranks. The republican movement is prepared for this.
"The British political, military and security establishment, along with local allies, will redouble their efforts in the dirty tricks department and their campaign of criminalisation. They will seek to sow mistrust and divisions among republicans and will use counter-revolutionaries to do so. These people will one day be forced to answer for their actions.
"Finally, we reject the assertions of the pro-establishment media that Óglaigh na hÉireann is fractionalised or engaged in criminality. Óglaigh na hÉireann is a unified body committed to the cause of Irish sovereign national self-determination and an end to British rule in Ireland.
"Our recent actions speak louder than a thousand establishment lies. Beir Bua. Victory to the IRA!"
The Real IRA refers to itself as Óglaigh na hÉireann. However, in claims of responsibility to media it can use its more popular name, the'Real IRA' to distinguish itself from a smaller dissident group which also calls itself Óglaigh na hÉireann
April 12, 2009
http://www.tribune.ie/article/2009/apr/12/massereene-murders-sets-north-back-years/
Suzanne Breen
The killing of two British soldiers at Massereene barracks last month was the result of a clinical Real IRA?operation which returned the north to a time many hoped had been left far behind
There were three of them in the car. The driver and two gunmen. Watching, waiting for the moment when the pizza delivery vehicles pulled up outside Massereene British Army base. There was nothing spontaneous about what they would do. They'd gone over it many times.
Neither the soldiers, who stepped outside the base in jovial mood to collect their food, nor the hapless pizza men, stood a chance. "Our volunteers knew the fast food delivery vehicles were on their way," a representative of the Real IRA Army Council says.
"When the pizza men arrived at the barracks, there was a crowd of British soldiers standing outside, not just four as has been publicly stated. Two of our volunteers got out off the car. One opened up on the barracks' sangar. The civilian guard inside, whom we believe was armed with a handgun, didn't return fire.
"The second volunteer opened fire on the Brits and pizza delivery men. Some of the Brits managed to run back into the base. But the other Brits and the pizza men fell to the ground."
The Army Council representative says the two Real IRA gunmen then "moved in to finish off" the soldiers. From close range, two soldiers were shot in the head and another two in the chest, he claims. "At the time, our volunteers believed they'd killed four Brits," he says unflinchingly.
The Real IRA claims its gunmen then actually entered the base looking for the other soldiers whom, it alleges, had run inside, but couldn't find them. This claim by the dissidents could not be validated, or disproved, by CCTV footage from the barracks.
The two gunmen then got into the waiting car and made their escape.
Their ruthlessness was painfully evident on the ground outside Massereene. Soldiers Mark Quinsey (23) and Patrick Azimkar (21) were dead, their families torn asunder forever. Two pizza delivery men and two other soldiers were seriously injured. It's no consolation to the injured or bereaved to state that, if the Real IRA had its way, the death toll would have been far higher.
The green Vauxhall car containing the gunmen, and their driver, was abandoned on a country lane near Randalstown, about eight miles from Massereene. There was a failed attempt to burn it. Some reports suggest a timed incendiary didn't detonate.
This is denied by the Real IRA spokesman: "The car was doused in petrol. It was ablaze when our volunteers left the scene. Because a window hadn't been left open, the fire burned itself out. However, despite what the authorities allege, we believe enough internal damage was done to the car to have destroyed any DNA evidence that possibly might have been there."
The coldly clinical words of combat used by the Real IRA to describe Massereene are ones most people hoped they'd never hear again. Wider Irish society sees the attack as a return to a past they prayed had been left behind.
The Real IRA's view couldn't be more different. "Two days before Massereene, Hugh Orde announced that special intelligence forces had been employed in the North. However, we'd observed these forces operating several weeks previously," the Army Council representative says.
"The crown forces obviously had some knowledge – from either human or technological sources – that a major operation was imminent. They knew something was happening, but not where nor what. We were a step ahead. We were able to strike, and strike successfully."
Asked if he felt guilt at the soldiers' deaths, the Real IRA spokesman said they'd be alive today "had they not been occupying Ireland". Massereene was "a way of sending a message to the British – your soldiers aren't wanted here."
Questioned about the peace rallies in the North following the murder of the soldiers and of Constable Stephen Carroll by the Continuity IRA, he replied: "We have nothing to say about the peace rallies. They have no effect on us."
So what are the Real IRA's plans? Tomorrow, several hundred republicans will gather at the City Cemetery in Derry to mark the Easter Rising and to pay tribute to IRA members killed in the most recent conflict. Wreaths will be laid and the 1916 Proclamation read.
The oration will be delivered by a 32 County Sovereignty Movement representative. But there will be another speaker too. A "member of the republican movement" will read the Real IRA's Easter statement.
He will refer to Denis Donaldson's murder and Massereene. But, most significantly, he will tell the crowd that the Real IRA's strategy isn't to return to a sustained campaign of violence, but to engage in "the tactical use of armed struggle" instead.
"The days of a campaign involving military operations every day, or every few days, are over," says the Army Council representative. "We're looking for high-profile targets, though we'll obviously take advantage when other targets present themselves.
"No-one should be fooled into thinking Massereene was the only major operation Oglaigh na hEireann had planned recently. For every successful operation, numerous others are aborted at the last minute for various reasons."
The spokesman claims the Real IRA aims for "unpredictability" in its attacks: "We will diversify our tactics. There will be operations against the RUC/PSNI and British military; firebombs; other commercial bombings; and a disruption to transport and the economy through bomb warnings and real devices – which costs the British exchequer considerably."
Asked if the Real IRA planned to attack Britain, the Army Council representative states: "When it becomes opportune." He refuses to specify the organisation's numerical strength: "We have members in all six counties, even in areas not previously considered strong for us. We've also volunteers in many of the 26 counties."
The Real IRA is known to have hand-guns, rifles, sub-machine guns and plastic explosives. "We have an effective arsenal for our campaign but, like any military organisation, we're always seeking to acquire new weapons and make technological advances," the spokesman says.
While Massereene horrified wider Irish society, that sentiment isn't universally shared in republican areas of the North. But has the attack increased Real IRA recruits? "We've seen an upsurge in young people and others seeking to join our ranks," the Army Council representative says.
"But we take things very slowly. Prospective volunteers go through careful vetting procedures. It's not a case of opening the floodgates to all and sundry. Previously, quantity sometimes prevailed over quality. Past mistakes won't be repeated."
The Real IRA's refusal to launch a sustained campaign isn't just down to choice. Not only does it lack the numerical strength and support base for an all-out war, but the British have made huge technological advances in terms of surveillance since 1994. When the Provisional IRA broke its ceasefire in 1996, its Northern activity showed it was a shadow of its former self.
The Real IRA knows it won't force a British withdrawal within a few years, but it believes even infrequent attacks can shatter the normalisation of life in Northern Ireland.
"After Massereene and Craigavon, the idea of an unarmed civilian police force was exposed," says the Army Council representative.
"The RUC/PSNI are back on the streets, heavily armed in flak jackets. A huge ring of security checkpoints was erected. Hugh Orde wants an extra £76m on top of his already massive budget to combat 'dissidents'.
"Given that a monster MI5 base in Holywood already exists, why are huge resources needed to combat what British security and political figures dismiss as a 'micro group'? Or is it a case that, regardless of what such people say publicly, their actions acknowledge the threat we represent?"
Despite its size, the Real IRA is as hardline as the Provisionals once were in branding people "legitimate targets" for providing services to "the enemy". The Army Council representative says: "Targets will include civilian workers in crown force bases – be they cooks, cleaners, or administrative staff. Construction workers building or refortifying bases. Those in cafes, restaurants, shops, hotels and other outlets who serve crown force personnel."
The Real IRA effectively acknowledges that a new type of recruit has joined the PSNI, making it more representative of Northern society than the RUC was. However, it argues that, like the overwhelmingly Catholic RIC [Royal Irish Constabulary], the PSNI's objective is still to uphold the British state. Hence, its recruits remain targets.
The Real IRA statement includes a stinging denunciation of Martin McGuinness who branded its members as traitors. There's been speculation that Sinn Féin politicians' lives are in danger from dissidents.
The Army Council representative says: "Taking military action against Sinn Féin leaders who are British ministers, or who urge nationalists to inform on us, isn't high on our agenda at the moment. However, that isn't to say this position won't change and, indeed, change quickly under certain circumstances."
Since Massereene, offers of dialogue with dissidents have come thick and fast from clerical and political figures. They're all dismissed by the Army Council representative: "We're interested in talking to these people only if they're bringing news of a British withdrawal from our country."
It's not just the Real IRA's desire to inflict fatalities at Massereene, or elsewhere, that's worrying. Its members seem prepared for a violent response on themselves. "We have no doubt the British army and police will seek to spill republican blood for recent attacks on their ranks," declares the Easter statement.
The Army Council representative says: "Our volunteers certainly don't want to die. But, if you're willing to take other people's lives in the cause of Irish freedom, then of course you must be prepared to risk your own."
April 12, 2009
http://www.tribune.ie/article/2009/apr/12/northern-editors-analysis/
Suzanne Breen
The Real IRA's first interview post-Massereene shows it to be more bullish than ever. Neither the passionate denunciation of Sinn Féin leaders, nor the condemnation of wider Irish society, has affected the organisation one iota.
Its language is uncompromisingly militant. There are none of the nuances we came to hear from Sinn Féin and Provisional IRA figures from the mid-1980s onwards. If the Real IRA had a slogan it would be, 'An armalite in one hand and we don't do ballot boxes'.
However much mainstream opinion, both nationalist and unionist, might revile Real IRA leaders, it's a mistake to believe they're stupid or insane. The Army Council representative's words were chillingly ruthless. But they were well thought-out.
There were no mad-cap boasts that the Real IRA would "free Ireland" in a few years.
The organisation has a strategy in the short- to medium-term: to disrupt the normalisation of Northern Ireland and to draw the security forces back into an openly combative role.
It also aims, as the Provisionals once did, to destabilise any political settlement short of a united Ireland. While the Stormont Executive has shown remarkable unity so far, pressure on it will increase in the event of further killings or bombings and community tensions will rise.
The Northern peace process was held up internationally as a shining example. While it's certainly not disintegrating, it appears slightly tarnished after Massereene and Craigavon. The days of the gunmen and bombers were meant to be well and truly over.
When I first interviewed the Real IRA last year, its deadly intent was obvious. But there was still a public impression of its members as incompetent armchair generals or bar-stool republicans who could only talk the talk.
That has all too tragically been proven wrong. The Real IRA's open contempt for the Provisionals shows it doesn't fear them. While once the organisation believed the mainstream IRA might try to wipe it out, that possibility receded as the Provisionals moved further into the peace process.
The Real IRA's survival will depend on several factors: whether or not ordinary nationalists inform on it to police; if it's developed shadow structures to function in the event of key personnel being arrested; and if it avoids such atrocities as Omagh in which 29 civilians were massacred.
Nationalist Ireland regards the Easter Rising leaders as heroes. They certainly don't share that view of the Real IRA. When I asked its Army Council representative what he made of that, he was dismissive: "The men and women of 1916 were outcasts in their time. They were actually spat on by ordinary Dubliners as they were being led away by the British. Being popular doesn't concern us."
April 12, 2009
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0412/breaking32.htm
STEVEN CARROLL
Sun, Apr 12, 2009
THE VOLUME of traffic travelling on Ireland’s roads has fallen by 4 per cent over the last 12 months, according to new statistics from the National Roads Authority (NRA).
In what has been described as “a silver lining” to the economic downturn, the number of traffic jams and tailbacks have fallen considerably.
The NRA figures show that commercial vehicle traffic has decreased by between 10 and 20 per cent across the country in the last year.
They also show that the number of people travelling on buses has fallen by some 4 per cent.
AA Roadwatch said last Thursday afternoon was the busiest on the roads to date this year, but that in general there has been reduced activity on the roads network nationwide.
“There has been less pressure on the major routes into our cities, especially Dublin, in the last few months,” AA policy director Conor Faughnan said.
“The first quarter of the year was conspicuously quieter than previous years... It's something of a silver lining to the economic downturn.”
Mr Faughnan said much of the reduction was directly attributable to falling numbers of people at work and falling economic activity.
“We may yet come to remember the gridlock of the Tiger era with something akin to nostalgia.”
The fall off in activity on the roads is reflected by a reduction of around 5 per cent in the volume of petrol and diesel sold.
© 2009 irishtimes.com
Updated: 11/1/2009
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