DISSIDENT REPUBLICANS JOIN TO FORM UNITED TERROR FRONT
Dissident republicans join to form united terror front
By TOM BRADY
AT A half-yearly conference of his senior officers in the Garda College last March Commissioner Pat Byrne warned that a major regrouping of dissident republicans posed the biggest threat to the peace process.
He was aware from intelligence reports that there was growing evidence that the hardcore of dissidents were attempting to form a united front.
Until then the group of defected Provisionals banded around the ex-IRA quartermaster general had provided the principal obstacle to peace from the republican side.
In May the ex-quarter-master and his organisation, now styling itself Oglaigh na hEireann sought a meeting with leaders of the two other republican splinter bands, Continuity IRA and INLA.
The outcome of that meeting in County Louth and subsequent contacts was the formation of a loose alliance between the three groups and the creation of a fresh headache for the Garda and the RUC.
Last June detectives uncovered the first concrete evidence of the groups working together on operations as they investigated a car bomb explosion in the south Armagh town of Newtownhamilton.
A serious rift within the Provisionals developed at an IRA convention near Gweedore, Co Donegal last October. This resulted in the forced resignation of the quartermaster, who had overall control of the IRA arms and explosives dumps, and his wife from their positions on the ruling 12-person army executive. It emerged that more than twenty senior personnel had also resigned including key members of an IRA unit in the south of Co Armagh.
Over the past few months the strength of Oglaigh na hEireann has grown to around a hundred activists, comprised of Provisonals who defected since the ceasefire or else were thrown out of the IRA.
Aligning itself with the INLA has given it the loose backing of another 25 to 28 personnel and greater flexibility in the North outside of south Armagh while the Continuity IRA, which is to disappear eventually and merge totally with the quartermaster's group, would provide a similar number of activists.
By TOM BRADY
AT A half-yearly conference of his senior officers in the Garda College last March Commissioner Pat Byrne warned that a major regrouping of dissident republicans posed the biggest threat to the peace process.
He was aware from intelligence reports that there was growing evidence that the hardcore of dissidents were attempting to form a united front.
Until then the group of defected Provisionals banded around the ex-IRA quartermaster general had provided the principal obstacle to peace from the republican side.
In May the ex-quarter-master and his organisation, now styling itself Oglaigh na hEireann sought a meeting with leaders of the two other republican splinter bands, Continuity IRA and INLA.
The outcome of that meeting in County Louth and subsequent contacts was the formation of a loose alliance between the three groups and the creation of a fresh headache for the Garda and the RUC.
Last June detectives uncovered the first concrete evidence of the groups working together on operations as they investigated a car bomb explosion in the south Armagh town of Newtownhamilton.
A serious rift within the Provisionals developed at an IRA convention near Gweedore, Co Donegal last October. This resulted in the forced resignation of the quartermaster, who had overall control of the IRA arms and explosives dumps, and his wife from their positions on the ruling 12-person army executive. It emerged that more than twenty senior personnel had also resigned including key members of an IRA unit in the south of Co Armagh.
Over the past few months the strength of Oglaigh na hEireann has grown to around a hundred activists, comprised of Provisonals who defected since the ceasefire or else were thrown out of the IRA.
Aligning itself with the INLA has given it the loose backing of another 25 to 28 personnel and greater flexibility in the North outside of south Armagh while the Continuity IRA, which is to disappear eventually and merge totally with the quartermaster's group, would provide a similar number of activists.
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/024
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
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