MPs step down from Army Council?

The front page of the Irish Independent – which tends to be much less activist on Sinn Fein and the IRA than its sister paper – is dominated with a report that Martin Ferris TD, Martin McGuinness MP, and Gerry Adams MP are finally stepping down as members of the IRA Army Council.

Right through the last pragmatic ten years or so, all three men have denied such charges, but it seems this apparent move is being interpreted as a final separation of the ways for Sinn Fein and the IRA in preparation for concrete moves from the latter. Is it true? Significant? Well, watch An Phoblacht next week if there is to be an announcement.

At the same time, whatever the source of this story it would not be the first time the Republican movement wrong footed the press corp. I doubt if Betfair is shipping much money on this one!

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.