Conflict

…if one (preferably all) of the Loyalist groupings were progressive enough to take the initiative to visually and transparently decommissioned their weapons? Would it not be the ultimate “body slam” to the Provisional movement? Not to mention ironic? KilsallyIT Technical Manager for a CCTV company in the UK & Ireland. Christian, Orangeman, Unionist. Webmaster of Ulster-Scots Online. Occasional blogger on Slugger O’ Toole. Eurosceptic. @Kilsally www.ulster-scots.co.uk

Father Des Wilson believes that there is a feeding frenzy focused on Sinn Fein. He identifies four groups (subs needed) he believes should be going to the courts “in rage over the undemocratic treatment they are getting”. One is the Sinn Féin party which is being ruthlessly attacked. Another is those who are not members of that party but vote for Sinn Féin and are being denied their most basic democratic rights. A third is other political parties, especially the …

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The report in full UTV carries a Press Association report Senior Sinn Fein members ‘sanctioned £26.5m bank raid’“Senior members of Sinn Fein sanctioned the £26.5 million Northern Bank robbery in Belfast, a new report claimed today. By:Press Association They were also part of the IRA leadership which gave the go-ahead for three other raids last year which resulted in the theft of more than £3 million worth of goods, the Independent Monitoring Commission said. Police investigating the December bank heist …

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That’s the verdict of Brian Feeney. The reason he cites is the collapse of what used to be pejoratively termed the pan nationalist front of Sinn Fein, the SDLP, the Irish government and supported from a distance by the US. The bank raid effectively killed off that consensus and has left Sinn Fein with no wider consensus to provide it with political cover for its unconventional relationship with the IRA.He saves his punch until the end: The unequivocal message Ahern …

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The IMC report, due out today is expected to name the IRA as cheif suspects. According to the Irish Times however it’s likely the British government will hold fire on its reaction. Meanwhile, police have resumed raids, this time around Beragh in the heart of Tyrone. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the …

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Broom of Anger with some thoughts on the women left behind after the killing of their sons. She calls for the ‘Army’ (IRA), once seen by many nationalists as the only protectors of their communities, to be stood down. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Danny Morrison argues that apologies are sometimes welcome and can have their place in averting to instances of past injustice. But he believes there are certain political facts that cannot be wished away or apologised for.He takes as an example: …there will never be a ‘proper apology’ for the British conquest of Ireland – which has bequeathed us our current difficulties. Nor will unionist leaders properly apologise for unionism’s systemic mistreatment of nationalists under Stormont, or for their many apologias …

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Steven King calls for all books to be open: in particular he wants a debate about the status of the IRA’s Green Book, in terms of what it means for members of the wider Republican Movement: …can there ever again be a negotiation aimed at restoring Stormont where unionists maintain a diplomatic silence about issues like the status of the IRA Green Book? In negotiation after negotiation, the other participants have preferred to treat republican ideology as an acceptable private …

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Malachi O’Doherty believes that in moving away from the sackcloth and ashes planned for it by Ian Paisley, it is moving into an even deeper dilemma: …the IRA loses either way. If it does not go back to war at the next reversal, then its bluff will have been called. If it goes into the next two years and more of likely stalemate without raising a threat, then it will have been neutered. From the point of view of many, …

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Hard to tell how to gauge the significance of such local tragedies, but Angelique Chrisafis found some strong feelings bubbling just under the surface the funeral of Robert McCartney, the man stabbed to death recently outside Magennis’s near the Markets. The past week has seen an unprecedented turning point in local attitudes towards the IRA. More than 600 people gathered for a candlelight street vigil in defiance of Mr McCartney’s killers. Residents in the Short Strand, which has suffered decades …

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Broom of Anger has snipped an interesting section of the Dail debate yesterday, in which the Taoiseach lays out the conditions for the beginning of any resumption of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland.After re-iterating the importance of the principle of inclusion, he gave an idea of the metrics required from the Republican movement to come back into the large tent it had so lately deserted: …there is no possibility whatsoever of making progress on the peace and confidence that …

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Sorry I’ve been away most of today. John Fay over at Newshound was earning his money today with an excellent round up of more analysis of the only story in Northern Ireland for the last month. Ferugs Finlay has an excellent piece in the Examiner, which examines Sinn Fein’s impressive (and seemingly impregnable) electoral mandate.HOwever, he believes in attacking the integrity of the Republic’s government Sinn Fein is simply propagandising its way out of a difficult situation: …on the RTÉ …

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It’s clear the IRA’s second statement last week took most people by surprise, seemingly none moreso than Brian Rowan at the time, whose uncustomary loss for words brought to mind for some the night he broke news of the Canary Wharf bombing, which broke the IRA’s first official ceasefire of the peace process era. Here he asks, if the IRA does not intend going back to war, what was it all about? Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He …

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For various reasons I won’t be around Slugger much today. The main news is the Cabinet meeting on the subject of the IMC report in Dublin, which is expected to confirm the suspicions that the IRA was the organisation behind the Northern Bank robbery. However, they are expected to call for no sanctions to be applied to Sinn Fein. Publication is expected on Thursday. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the …

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In the Sunday Independent, Anthony McInytre argues that the Sinn Fein leadership was caught napping by Bertie Ahern’s decision to go on the offensive in the wake of Hugh Orde’s public statement.He believes however that the key part of Ahern’s strategy was: Ahern’s masterstroke lay not in accusing the IRA but in unambiguously placing Sinn Fein leaders at the heart of the decision-making processes within the IRA. In doing so he has signalled that the party’s leaders will publicly carry …

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Gregory Campbell MP spoke at an event in Pilots Row recently, Bogside during the Bloody Sunday commemoration weekend. He took the occasion as an opportunity to express his party’s objection to Sinn Fein’s proposals for a Day Of Reflection.By Gregory Campbell Throughout the 1980’s I tried to get Nationalists to hear what it was Unionists were saying and what our views were. There were no takers. In 1995, today is in fact the tenth anniversary, I spoke in this building …

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Former editor of the BBC’s Today programme, and now a regular columnist at the Spectator, Rod Liddle, says the one thing required from Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein is honesty. He makes an unfavourable comparison with Al-Qaeda: …the main difference between these twin threats to our peaceful existence is in IRA/ Sinn Fein’s disingenuousness, the century of lies. The peace process would be easier to pursue and we would be more inclined to forgive the decades of murder, the IRA/Nazi …

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Following his comments on Morning Ireland, journalist and author Ed Moloney expanded on his analysis in Saturday’s Irish Times, and set the scene for the decision that must now be made by the Irish and British governments – This may well be the time to call the IRA’s bluff, but are Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern made of the right stuff?Ed Moloney’s article in full – War and Peace And so the dance, the tiresome shuffle resumes. Having kicked its …

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Interesting analysis from Chris Thornton in the Irish Independent, in which he argues that the Bank Raid was a tipping point in the relationship between Sinn Fein, the IRA and the two governments. He doesn’t believe it will affect the party’s onward and upward trajectory in the short term, but the raid and the IRA’s criminal activities will remain centre stage in any future negotiations. He notes (via a quotation from Slugger) too that on this occasion, the IRA seems …

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Meanwhile Sinn Fein appear to be attempting to squeeze whatever political capital they can out of what the Irish government claims is a crisis entirely of their own making. The Irish Republic’s top detectives, along with the Irish Defence Forces’ military intelligence unit known as G2, told Ahern that, in the aftermath of the political talks breaking down, a minority in the IRA leadership believed the British should have been taught a lesson. However, instead of bombing Britain, potentially a …

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