Inside The Real IRA

The Dublin government in secret talks with Real IRA before Omagh

The Irish government was in secret indirect negotiations with the Real IRA in the weeks immediately preceding the Omagh bombing on August 15. The Belfast Redemptorist priest, Fr Alex Reid acted as an intermediary and documents from the Office of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, were handed over. The Taoiseach's adviser on Northern Ireland, Martin Mansergh, was also involved in the contacts.

The documents concerned were shown to Magill by the Real IRA, which said that the contacts were an “ongoing attempt by the Government to bring an end to the use of force by the RIRA.” The Real IRA executive member told Magill that since the Omagh bombing up to the time of going to press (August 24), there had been no contact between the two sides through intermediaries or otherwise.

The executive member also informed Magill at the time of going to press that the leading members of the Real IRA had arranged to meet to consider a permanent cease-fire—a suspension of operations had been announced in the days immediately following the Omagh bombing. There are conflicting signals from within the organisation on its likely future course. Some activists want to pursue an exclusively political route, while others want the option to resume the military campaign.

The Real IRA executive member who spoke to Magill said, in the immediate aftermath of the Omagh bombing, that while he was opposed to the use of car bombs because of their “indiscriminate” effect himself, the organisation as a whole deeply regretted the casualties. However, he insisted: “(the Omagh atrocity) wasn't that different from other terrible tragedies—the cause of the conflict hasn't been addressed and because of that everybody has suffered.”

Clearly the fatalities at Omagh and the public outrage over what happened unnerved the leadership of the Real IRA. Within hours of issuing a statement acknowledging its responsibility for the bomb and its assertion that it was part of “an on-going war” against British presence in Ireland, it issued a further statement announcing a “suspension” of operations. That latter statement followed a secret meeting in Dundalk where several members argued for a ceasefire. According to a Garda source, one of the people attending that meeting was the organisation's key explosives engineer. And it was the engineer according to the Garda source, who argued for a ceasefire and insisted, at a minimum, on an announcement of a “suspension” of operations.

The Real IRA executive member, who spoke to Magill, said that a ceasefire was under consideration even before the Omagh bombing. One of the leading figures in the Munster area, where the Real IRA has taken over the infrastructure and much of the membership of the Provisional IRA, is said to have been “sickened” by the Omagh bomb and to be now in favour of a ceasefire.

Immediately following the Tuesday, August 18 announcement of a “suspension” of military operations, the Real IRA executive member said that the intention then was to pursue their objectives solely through political means, principally through the 32 County Sovereignty Committee's UN challenge to Britain's right to sovereignty. Asked what follows if the UN does not uphold the challenge, the source said: “Then we'll accept it. That's it.”

So far, there has been no response from the Continuity IRA to the Taoiseach's call for an end to republican violence. Republican Sinn Féin, widely regarded as the political wing of the CIRA, condemned the “slaughter of the innocents at Omagh” as “totally unjustified”. Although reaction within the CIRA appears to be one of revulsion, a source close to the group said the “root cause” of the bomb was Britain's occupation. Asked if they blamed the RIRA for the raft of draconian legislation about to be enacted, he said: “No, it's the State that's bringing it in, not the dissidents. Let's be clear where the blame lies.”

Contrary to recent reports, there is no evidence of co-operation between the CIRA and the RIRA. The two differ fundamentally on recognition of the 26 counties. The CIRA believes the RIRA are not “true republicans” principally because they recognise Leinster House. There is no indication that the CIRA is considering a cease-fire.

The RIRA executive member acknowledged that the public outrage that followed Omagh would result in a severe setback for the organisation, but one from which they could conceivably recover. “Look what happened after Enniskillen. Gerry Adams was crucified. But he survived, politically.”

However, a Provisional IRA member said “With Omagh, they (the Real IRA) did what the Brits and the IRA couldn't do - they have destroyed themselves

The origins of the ‘Real IRA' can be traced to the run up to the second IRA cease-fire in 1997. A number of hard-line republicans, uneasy about the political strategy adopted by the Sinn Féin leadership, began to canvass support for a challenge to the republican leadership. By the time the cease-fire was announced in July of last year, a split was inevitable.

It came at an extraordinary IRA convention in Falcarragh near Gweedore, Co Donegal on October 10, 1997, attended by some 80 IRA delegates. These included three prominent members of Sinn Féin, two veteran Belfast republicans, the southern and northern commanders and the former head of the England department. According to both pro-and anti-leadership sources, prominent the Sinn Féin members argued that their political strategy was the correct one and one that would ultimately deliver the goal of a united Ireland. 

On July 19, 24 hours before the announcement of the second IRA cease-fire, the Sinn Féin leadership on the IRA overrode a ruling by the 1996 Army Convention, which gave the 12-strong Army Executive, rather that the Army Council, the authority  to call a cease-fire. The 1996 ruling was an attempt by the IRA membership to limit the powers of the Sinn Féin leadership on the IRA.  The significance of that was the Sinn Féin leaders had a majority of four to three on the Council, whereas they were in a minority on the Executive.  The massive internal wrangling that took place on the 18/19 held up the announcement by almost 24 hours.

The quartermaster and his supporters argued that by overruling the 1996 decision,  and by signing up to the principles of non-violence,  the leadership was in breach of the IRA constitution.  This was the basis for the challenge. 

The Sinn Féin leadership achieved a further success in persuading the Army convention to give retrospective authority to the Army Council to call a ceasefire. In fact the 1997 Convention was in breach of the 1996 Army Convention which gave the authority to the executive to call a ceasefire.

Commenting afterwards on the failure of the dissidents to win support at the Army Convention, a pro-leadership member said: “They were seen as politically naïve—most had never been members of Sinn Féin—and had no alternative political strategy. The militants failed to sway sufficient numbers of volunteers away from the leadership. They were militarily experienced but they could not provide a credible political alternative. In effect, what they were offering was the armalite minus the ballot box.”

The militants were left with little option but to resign from the IRA. Two of them resigned from the Army Executive, accusing the leadership of a sell-out. At the same time, 20 Sinn Féin members from the Louth and Tyrone area resigned, including councillors Francie Mackey and Rory Dougan.

Initially, the security forces and the Provisionals played down the threat, saying the leadership had taken the mass movement with it, leaving a small and insignificant rump behind.

Alarm bells should have been ringing, said a senior Provisional, as “it wasn't the numbers that was important, it was the calibre of the people who left.”

In what is seen now as preparation for a permanent cease-fire, the Provisional leadership had in recent years ordered that its arsenal be moved in centralised or ‘mother' dumps, to remain under the control of the quartermaster general. When the leadership challenge failed, the former quartermaster relinquished control of the entire arsenal to his successor, a Tyrone-born republican now living in Monaghan. Not a single weapon was removed from the dumps. “He had no choice but to hand them over intact. If he hadn't he'd have been shot dead,” said a senior Provisional.

In January, the 32 County Sovereignty Committee was launched with Bernadette Sands-McKevitt at the helm. It is a single-issue campaign that derives its mandate from the 1919 Dáil Declaration of Independence and claims that the recent referendum was illegal. Its argument is based broadly on a submission to the United Nations that claims Britain has no right to sovereignty and is in breach of UN covenants. The submission itself is slim, and relies heavily on documents by the late Séan MacBride, a former UN High Commissioner and minister for external affairs.

Behind the scenes, the militarists had started to re-group and it soon became clear that the new organisation had the potential to become a serious threat. A number of factors came into play: the Provisionals accelerated the process of dismantling its southern command which began after the first cease-fire; the dissidents put into place a number of key people in Munster and adopted a strategy of replacing the IRA. One of the main activists in the ‘Real IRA' in the south west had been the subject of an inquiry by the Provisionals into the misappropriation of IRA funds in the late 1980s. He and a number of close associates have since moved into in the security business in the southeast.

Within the past two months, the former OC of the southern command went on the run after he gave gardai a verbal admission of IRA membership. He had stood down as OC following the murder of detective Gerry McCabe by the IRA in 1996. The Provisionals in the South were in disarray and this contributed significantly to the rise of the Real IRA.

Although the nucleus of the RIRA remains along the Louth border, the dissidents were growing numerically and geographically. Allied to the fact that some long term republicans were uneasy, they also had a certain appeal to young republicans who liked the tradition of a physical force opposition and who were “easily convinced that the IRA had gone soft,” said a senior Provisional.

They were gaining ground in Dublin, east Tyrone and Armagh, as disclosed by Magill in June. Magill also revealed that 15 Dublin-based Provisionals had defected. These include the former partner of a Sinn Féin negotiator, along with a first cousin of the Inchicore bomb maker and the gunman suspected of the IRA murder of criminal Martin Cahill. In addition, two brothers, both of whom were long term members of the 1st battalion of south Armagh, the IRA's most professional and deadly unit, also joined.  It is one of these men, rather than the Inchicore bomb-maker, who is the chief suspect behind the Omagh bomb, said a senior security source.

Significantly, the RIRA had never managed to penetrate the republican strongholds of Belfast and Derry. Although there is some dissent in these areas, they remain solidly behind the Adams/McGuinness leadership.

Along with ex-Provisionals, the RIRA got a number of defections from the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) shortly before the bombing of Newtownhamilton. The INLA members who defected are centred mainly on Louth.

By May, the Real IRA was more than 100-strong and included one of the country's top bomb makers. Apart from a hard core of activists, it had also recruited a number of ‘sleepers'—republicans not known to gardai, as was the case with the Ashford raid in May.

However, while the organisation was growing, Garda “informers” also infiltrated it. The Gardai managed to foil 10 out of 14 operations planned by the Real IRA from January to August. One of these was the attempted-armed robbery at Ashford, Co Wicklow, where a Real IRA activist, Ronan MacLochlainn, was shot dead by the Gardai.

The Real IRA was also almost certainly infiltrated by a Provisional IRA member who was relaying details of their movements back to the Provisionals. In response, the RIRA restructured in June into small cells to minimise the risk.

Contrary to reports, there was no co-operation from the Provisionals in any of the RIRA attacks, other than from Provisionals who had defected. None of the explosives or weapons used in various RIRA attacks came from the Provo arsenal. The AKM rifle seized in the Ashford raid was of Romanian origin and was not a Provo weapon and neither was the fairly new Magnum revolver seized.

Apart from a small amount of Semtex—which, with the right contacts can be obtained on the continent—the explosives seized were all home-made or were ‘mix', in paramilitary language. It is likely that the RIRA leader “siphoned off” a small number of weapons during his time as quartermaster that did not find their way into the Provo dumps. The RIRA is still badly armed. Whatever weapons, home-made explosives and mortars it does possess are believed to be stored in a bunker just north of the Louth/Armagh border.

The RIRA is also poorly resourced, although the dissidents had embarked on a fund-raising drive courtesy of former Noraid boss, US lawyer Martin Galvin. Speaking to Magill, US Congressman Peter King said the possibility of serious funds coming from the US was extremely remote, as Irish America was firmly behind the Provos. “Gerry Adams had told the community over here that a united Ireland wasn't on the cards right now. It wasn't an easy thing to do, but he and Martin McGuinness and Joe Cahill have got the full backing of the Irish Americans. Funds coming from the US (to the dissidents) before Omagh would have been negligible: after Omagh there would be nothing at all,” he said.

Nonetheless, the Provisionals were becoming increasingly worried about the growing influence of the RIRA and there are unconfirmed reports that they warned the RIRA leader to stop the campaign or face the consequences. According to a reliable political source, Bernadette Sands-McKevitt confided in him in May that the Provisionals had threatened to kill her and her partner. When contacted, Sands-McKevitt would not discuss the alleged threat.

In public, the dissidents were trying to make life very difficult for Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. At a recent west Belfast festival and at other events, strategically placed dissidents hurled verbal abuse at the Sinn Féin President and accused him of selling out. The Sands family boycotted a Sinn Féin rally to commemorate the hunger strikers and numbers were well down on previous years.

The Adams/McGuinness leadership was being backed into a corner, by Unionist leaders demanding both decommissioning and a declaration that the war is over, but more so through internal dissension. “Adams had gone as far as he could go. He couldn't declare an end to the war. If he had, we were afraid we were looking at a dead man,” said a Provisional, loyal to Adams. “They kept pressing him to come out with this and all the time he knew what was behind him. There was a feeling that [the RIRA leader] was on a winner no matter what. If a job went right, republicans would say ‘that was a great operation' and if things went wrong, like Ashford, they would look like martyrs.”

On May 3, the Provisionals publicly called for republicans to hold firm. But other more ominous developments were taking place in the background. Provisional IRA punishment shootings, similar to the one which killed Belfast man Andy Kearney, increased steadily throughout the year. From January 1, 31 shootings and 38 punishment beatings were carried out by various republican groupings, a significant number of which are blamed on Provisionals.

Two of the victims were prominent members of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and Republican Sinn Féin, the political wings of the INLA and the Continuity IRA (CIRA) respectively. Kevin McQuillan of the IRSP suffered a fractured skull and lost an eye and the hearing in one of his ears, arising out of a beating in June. The attack was motivated by his criticism of Sinn Féin, he claims. In Derry in July, former internee Michael Donnelly suffered a broken leg after a group of masked men burst into his home. Donnelly claims his attackers accused him of costing the Provisionals a seat at Stormont.

Members of the Continuity IRA and of the INLA have said that the punishment attacks were undertaken in part to deter republican paramilitaries defecting to the Real IRA or other organisations.

Meanwhile, the RIRA campaign continued relentlessly. The attacks increased in frequency and ferocity in an apparent attempt to “up the ante” in the run up to the Stormont assembly meeting on September 14 next: Newry, Banbridge and Newtown-hamilton.

“They were becoming more and more reckless,” said a Provisional source. “We knew some disaster was going to happen, but not this (Omagh). Jesus, no one thought it was going to be as bad as that.”

The Attacks

Since its inception, the Real IRA has planned 14 known attacks, 10 of which have been foiled by security forces north and south.

On January 7, two days after the Banbridge find, the Gardai seized 1.5 tonnes of home-made explosives in Howth and arrested three men.

On March 3, gardaí discovered a 600lb bomb in a Renault car hidden in a shed in Hackballscross, Co Louth.

On March 22, gardai seized a massive 1,200lb bomb in a stolen Mitsubishi jeep in Dundalk. The bomb was primed and ready to be transported into Northern Ireland to coincide with the St Patrick's Day visit to White House by Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams. Also found was a timer unit, booster tubes and 10 rolls of home-made detonating cord.

On April 2, members of the Garda Special Branch seized a 1,200lb bomb concealed in a stolen BMW at the Dun Laoghaire ferry port.

On May 1, members of the heavily armed Emergency Response Unit intercepted a unit of the Real IRA as they allegedly attempted to hold up a Securicor van. One IRA man, Ronan MacLochlainn was shot dead by gardaí.

On May 17, the dissidents carried out an attempted bombing in Armagh when a 500lb car bomb was left outside the city's police station. The car, a white Toyota Carina had been stolen in Dublin earlier.

On June 22, a mysterious explosion left a 10-foot crater in a field near Drumintee. It was the result of an explosives test by the Real IRA, sources close to the organisation told Magill. It is believed the paramilitaries were testing a mix of fertiliser and sugar.

On June 24, dissident republicans detonated a massive car bomb in Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh. Although the bomb was claimed by the INLA, the security forces say the bomb was made and organised by the Real IRA.

On July 10, British police arrested four people in London who were allegedly planning a series of firebomb attacks in the UK.

On July 12, the RUC intercepted a 1,400lb car bomb in Moy, Co Tyrone, intended for Armagh City.

On July 13, a car bomb left outside Newry courthouse on July 13, failed to explode and was made safe by British Army experts.

On July 21, the Real IRA carried out a mortar bomb attack on the RUC station in the centre of Newry. The single 200lb mortar, which misfired and failed to explode, was similar to the heavy Mark 15 mortar used by the Provisionals in the early 1990s.

On August 1, a huge car bomb exploded in Banbridge, Co Down, injuring 33 people and causing £2million worth of damage. A warning went off as the area was being evacuated.

August 15, a massive car bomb explodes in the centre of Omagh, killing 28 and injuring more than 100 people.

The Accused

Since its inception, some 25 members of the Real IRA were arrested. Of these, 15 have been charged with various paramilitary offences. They are: Seamus McLoughlin of Balkhill Park, Howth; Joseph Dillon of Skerries, Co Dublin and Eamonn Flanagan of The Square, Skerries, all charged in connection with the Howth find.

Patrick MacDonagh of Cooley, Dundalk and Ciaran McDonagh of Greenfield Court, Dundalk are cousins charged in connection with a  explosive find in Louth in March.

Larry Keane of Cloney, Athy, Co Kildare is charged with possession of improvised explosives at Dun Laoghaire on April 2.
Stephen Carney of Dolphin House, Dublin, Pascal Burke from Marrowbone Lane, Dublin, Philip Forsythe, Rollins Villas, Sallynoggin and Danny McAllister and Saoirse Breatnach from Ballybrack, Co Dublin are all charged with possession of firearms at Ashford on May 1.

Elaine Moore of Parkhill Road, Hampstead, Liam Grogan from Naas Co Kildare, Darren Mulholland of Meadowgrove, Dundalk and Anthony Hyland of no fixed abode, are all charged with conspiracy and explosives offences on July 10 last.

The INLA cease-fire called on Saturday, August 22 was to have taken place two months earlier, according to documents seen by Magill. In late May, 30 INLA prisoners approved cease-fire proposals but the cessation was blocked by INLA members on the outside, mainly those from Dublin. The cease-fire was called for tactical reasons aimed at prisoner releases.