A BBC News item says:
“Some of Northern Ireland’s dissident republican paramilitary groups are to come together under the banner of the IRA, a statement has claimed.
The statement “signed army council IRA”, said a number of organisations were unifying under one leadership.”
There is no information given by the BBC of the policy or aims of this organisation except that it is called New IRA and that it is against drug dealers. Given the name one might assume that the New IRA supports direct action for a United Ireland. Although one cannot rely on this given the approach of the Officials and Provisionals in their latter days.
However, unlike the BBC, the Guardian has printed a statement by the organisation concluding with the words:
“The necessity of armed struggle in pursuit of Irish freedom can be avoided through the removal of the British military presence in our country, the dismantling of their armed militias and the declaration of an internationally observed timescale that details the dismantling of British political interference in our country.
“Signed Army Council … IRA.”
Gerry Kelly, MLA, describes them as a “small group.” Always a chancy description since
General De Gaulle called the 1968 rising a small group. That is until 100,000 people in central Paris gathered together chanting “Nous sommes un petit groupuscle,” (We are a little tiny group.) And De Gaulle fled to an army camp in Alsace.
guess that they'll claim to
guess that they'll claim to be the only legitimate government of the whole island because seven old man did say something in 1938
Maclane Horton wrote: Gerry
Maclane Horton
??? Well yeah but the difference here is that 68 had mass support from workers and students, whereas the population of Northern Ireland have turned their backs on the boys in Balaclava's which is why "new" groups keeping popping up after the old ones breakdown. Do you have any information that large numbers of Northern Irish are now marching back to the armed struggle days?
Edit: I'll also take the claims this new group is against drugs with a pinch of salt since all the old groups said that, only to find they were heavily complicit in it (guns aren't cheap after all). Usually in Northern Ireland when a paramilitary group attacks a drug dealer (assuming they actually are drug dealers and aren't just people the group wants to get rid of) their crime is actually dealing drugs for a rival.