Republican News · Thursday 25 April 2002

IRA refutes allegations

"The IRA ceasefire is intact. The IRA is not targeting anyone. The IRA poses no threat to the Peace Process," a senior republican speaking with the authority of the IRA leadership told the media earlier this week. The press briefing came in the wake of the insidious campaign of anti republican disinformation to have emerged in recent weeks.

During the briefing, journalists were reminded that the two IRA initiatives on arms had been carried out "to save the Peace Process" while others were not fulfilling their obligations. "The IRA did not carry out Castlereagh, some section of British Intelligence did. The arrests and raids afterwards were used to create a smokescreen," he said.

Inflated and false claims have flooded the media within the last month heightening tensions within the Peace Process. Emotive front-page headlines "IRA has target list of Tories" fuelled the Anti Agreement lobby with anti republican propaganda. These were swiftly followed by renewed unionist threats to scuttle the institutions.

Belfast's Newsletter pushed the boat out further than most with the banner headline "Last days of peace?" followed by a claim that "speculation that the IRA is preparing for a renewal of the armed struggle has reached fever pitch". Following a string of "new allegations" said the Newsletter, "angry unionists have demanded that Sinn Féin be thrown out of the power sharing Executive".

If anyone is really in any doubt about the agenda behind the headlines, the Newsletter can be relied upon to be less reticent than others in spelling it out. UUP leader David Trimble is "under increasing pressure from hardliners within his party to take sanctions against Sinn Féin," it reported.

But this isn't a media-led campaign. The media were responding to an agenda emanating from elements within the PSNI/RUC and more specifically the Special Branch. A series of arrests and raids on the homes of republicans and on premises used by republican ex-prisoners produced nothing to link republicans with the St Patrick's Day raid on Castlereagh. Despite this, the mere fact of the PSNI operation was sufficient to colour the public perception of the incident.

Similarly, the arrest of a man, described by the media as a leading republican, in connection with the killing of a Catholic taxi driver in County Tyrone, made it to the front page of most newspapers. Less well reported was the fact that the loyalist Red Hand Defenders had already claimed the killing. Even less well reported was the fact that the arrested man was released without charge once news of his arrest had been widely circulated.

Towards the end of the week, the broadsheets at least were tempering their earlier enthusiasm. "Disgruntled special branch officers in Northern Ireland are being blamed for a series of leaks about the IRA which are designed to damage Sinn Féin in the run up to next month's general election in the Irish Republic," wrote The Guardian. Even "sources within Whitehall" admitted, "special branch appeared to be leaking like a sieve". A senior Whitehall source said: "Someone is leaking and it looks like special branch. It appears this is being done to damage Sinn Fein in the elections in the south."

Suspicions of a dirty tricks campaign were raised after the BBC in Belfast received details of a database uncovered during recent PSNI raids. In another 'leak' to the Sunday Telegraph, this time from "military intelligence in London", it was claimed that "senior IRA commanders bought Russian special forces rifles in Moscow last year."

This claim was later refuted by other "British officials", who said the Telegraph had been "provided with exaggerated details in another attempt to damage Sinn Féin".

Commenting, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said failed and faceless manipulators in the Special Branch and British Intelligence services are behind efforts to provoke a crisis in the peace process.

"The two governments and particularly the British government need to be very circumspect about how they respond to the current flurry of media speculation," said Adams. "Threats by anti-Agreement unionists to take action against Sinn Féin are nothing new. Some of them have built their careers on the word 'no'," he said. "Neither is it surprising that the British Tories are also exploiting the twists and turns of the Irish Peace Process in their battle with the Labour Party."

"The chief culprits in the present controversy are the failed and faceless manipulators in the Special Branch and British Intelligence service. Everyone needs to be very sceptical about stories emanating from these sources," said Adams.