a united Ireland plagued by gangsters

Frank Millar, in the Irish Times, reports the comments of the chief constable of West Yorkshire, Colin Cramphorn, the last deputy chief constable of the RUC and then acting chief constable of the PSNI, from this interview in the Yorkshire Evening Post –

A former Northern Ireland police chief has predicted that a united Ireland will emerge in about 15 years but that “it will be like Sicily” with “self-policing” by Mafia-type organisations.

Millar picks out some of the comments from the article, in particular –

He does not see the present process providing a smooth transition to a “normal” democracy. “I think in about 15 or so years we will see the unification of Ireland. And it will be like Sicily.

“Already conventional crime in Belfast is lower than it is in cities like Leeds, but self-policing by a Mafia-type organisation such as the IRA tells another story – a most unpleasant one,” he said.

And also points to this quote, from the interview in the Yorkshire Evening Post with Colin Cramphorn, on future organised criminal activity –

“Neither is the IRA about to go away, it won’t be abandoning its organised criminal activity. This is the most sophisticated, politically strategic organisation I know. It’s a global business, it runs like clockwork – and it has pensions to pay to loyal volunteers and operatives who have given long service. Pensions are promised, they are in the contracts. These people are looked after and they are looked after well. This is not the end of the IRA, it is the beginning of another new era of it.”

Slugger O'Toole

A general account used for the daily threads and other things.