Unionist media shamed into deleting IRA claims

The Belfast Telegraph and other unionist media organisations were forced into an embarrassing u-turn this week after publishing absurd claims about the supposed continuing actions of the Provisional IRA, which ended its armed campaign in 2005.

Controversial unionist broadcaster Stephen Nolan initially aired the claims, which originated from a statement released by loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson, under the name of ‘Unionist Voice Policy Studies’.

On Friday, Nolan’s show on ‘BBC Radio Ulster’ claimed the PSNI had confirmed Bryson’s characterisation of “the latest assessment of the (PIRA) Army Council”.

He said the current 2024 “assessment” was that the PIRA Army Council is controlling Sinn Féin, and that the PIRA are storing weapons, gathering information on breakaway armed groups and trying to identify informers.

However, the document referred to was in fact drafted by British military intelligence ten years ago, and even at that time it was widely ridiculed and debunked.

The PSNI denied this week there has been been any new “assessment”.

But opening his Friday show, Stephen Nolan told listeners: “The PSNI has been in touch with the Nolan Show talking about the latest assessment of the Army Council.”

He then pointed out that two DUP ministers have come under fire for holding meetings with the representatives of actives loyalist paramilitary gangs, and said they (Ministers Gordon Lyons and Paul Givan) “might be interested” to hear that Bryson’s allegations had been backed by the PSNI.

Gullible unionist politicians, such as former UUP leader Doug Beattie, were roped in to sound the alarm. The claims of IRA activity were then hailed by loyalists as justifying the continued actions of the UDA and UVF.

The Loyalist Community Council, which represents the paramilitary gangs, said they had “exposed the hypocrisy” of the “failure to call out Sinn Féin over their continued connection and subservience to their IRA overlords”.

The claims were also aired in the 26 Counties to add pressure on Sinn Féin ahead of an imminent announcement of a general election there.

But, after a furore on social media, the hyped-up online articles penned by the Belfast Telegraph and others were quietly deleted. And although the claims made it to BBC Radio, they were not repeated in any of their news bulletins or on the BBC website. However, the loyalist Newsletter has continued to publish the falsehoods.

In a text update, a Sinn Féin spokesperson said: “Twenty six years after the Good Friday Agreement and almost two decades since the IRA left the stage, the IRA is gone and is not coming back. There is no place for illegal or armed groups in our society. If the PSNI have information on illegal activity they should bring those responsible before the courts.”

Urgent Appeal