There is no basis for the charges made against Sinn Féin by our political opponents and if this descends into crisis it is a direct result of their stupidity and opportunism, says Gerry Adams.

FORMER Justice Minister Michael McDowell may have taken many ordinary Irish citizens by surprise by revealing that the total abolition of the IRA was never part of the Northern Ireland peace process.

The gardaí’s “fresh assessment” of the Provisional IRA will depend entirely on what the PSNI investigation into the murder of former paramilitary Kevin McGuigan reveals, it has emerged.

IF it is established that the Provisional IRA is still a functioning, active entity, happy to murder to achieve its aims or protect its criminal activities, then the people of this island will have to come to terms with one of the greatest betrayals foisted on it by violent nationalism in many, many decades.

New legislation is needed to give police greater powers to investigate potential terrorist activity online, the head of the North’s anti-terror unit has insisted.

A specialist police anti-terror unit in the North is conducting almost 70 investigations into dissident republican activities, the majority undercover surveillance operations, its lead detective has revealed.

Detectives investigating alleged dissident republican meetings that were bugged by MI5 have arrested three more men.

Detectives investigating dissident republican activity have arrested four men in west Belfast and recovered a firearm and ammunition.

Seven men are due in court charged with what police in the North have described as “significant and serious terrorist offences”.

In the North, police investigating "violent dissident republican activity" have arrested 12 men in Newry, County Down.

In the North, a 43-year-old man remains in custody in connection with a signifcant seizure of explosives and ammunition in County Fermanagh.