Hardhitting IMC report leaves Sinn Féin punchdrunk and firmly on the back foot

Gerry Adams’s ‘no activities’ line is back to haunt him, says Political Editor Harry McGee.

It came a couple of days after Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams had promised that the IRA would engage in "no activities" which undermined the peace process or the Good Friday Agreement.

When news began to filter through an exasperated Adams came out with an attention-grabbing line: "What part of 'no activities' does the British government not understand?"

Well Sinn Féin got a resounding answer yesterday with the first report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC).

Nobody expected republicans to get a gold star, but even the numerous leaks of its contents didn't prepare you for this no-holds-barred document.

Not alone was the IRA still active but senior members of Sinn Féin were involved in a senior level of the organisation, the IMC concluded in its most serious findings.

While conceding there had been a significant reduction in murders and other crime associated with the Troubles, in the same breath it went on to find paramilitary activity as a whole is at a disturbingly high level, and violence short of murder is at a level which would cause outrage in Britain or in the South.

It went on to find paramilitary groups on all sides are "deeply involved" in organised crimes and derive very large profits from it.

Unsurprisingly, the unremitting focus of reaction was always going to be directed at Sinn Féin, though the report itself made a point of stressing loyalist violence now exceeded that of republicans.

But politically, the findings were hugely damaging to Sinn Féin and Sinn Féin only (loyalist political representation is tiny and out of the loop of the process).

The report prompted the expected angry and outspoken reaction from Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams who described it as a "sham" and dismissed the independence of the IMC. He also castigated the sources of its information, which he said came from securocrats.

But yesterday's Dublin press conference was a strange affair. The room was jammed with Sinn Féin supporters. Mr Adams read a long statement that included a broadside against the Irish Government. But he accepted no questions from journalists. It seemed the IMC report had put Sinn Féin very much on the back foot. Once again the carefully constructed artifice that contends the party is a separate entity to the IRA was under ferocious challenge.

On specifics, the alleged abduction of dissident republican Bobby Tohill was covered in one terse sentence: "We do, however, believe this material, taken as a whole, indicates the operation was one planned and undertaken by the Provisional IRA (PIRA)."

More broadly, its findings on an organisation which claims to be undertaking "no activities" were devastating:

"The PIRA remains active and in a high state of readiness," the report concluded, finding it has been "undertaking training in the early part of this year."

"It maintains a capability on intelligence, both on political events and on potential targets, and on weaponry.

"This provides ample evidence of an organisation maintaining its capacity to undertake acts of violence or to participate in a terrorist campaign if that seemed necessary to it."

Another specific charge follows:

"PIRA is highly active in paramilitary shootings short of murder. It has been responsible for eight such attacks so far this year."

The other stand-out line comes near the end of the report:

"Some members, including some senior members, of Sinn Féin are also members, including, in some cases, senior members of PIRA."

Well, Liz O'Donnell's comments reproving Sinn Féin bashing are redundant after just a day. The financial sanctions imposed by the British Government were the least of the party's worries it had to endure another round of condemnation from Government and political parties of all hues, North and South.

Adams's withering dismissal of the report contained some valid points. His party had opposed the setting up of the IMC from the start claiming it facilitated the exclusion of Sinn Féin. He also asked some pertinent questions about the sources on which the IMC had relied and the speed at which it had fashioned such a conclusive report (a little over three months).

He was right that despite evidence that most of the violence is on the loyalist side, it is his party that will take the brunt of the criticisms.

But the IMC, early in the report, sought to deal with this charge: "We understand that some are sceptical about the nature of information we receive, especially from official bodies."

But it's clear that the four-member group interviewed a wide range of sources, including victims of paramilitary violence. On the face of it, some of its key findings are inarguable.

Critically, in a robust reading of its remit the IMC says debate on politically-inspired violence should move on from the traditional concept of ceasefire to include "the totality of illegal paramilitary activity".

This included punishment beatings and shootings, extortion, smuggling, drug-dealing, campaigns of intimidation, 'community policing', and expulsions.

The level of violence is disturbing, the report discloses. There were 12 murders since January 2003, 10 of them by loyalists. Loyalists carried out 213 paramilitary-style shootings in that period; republicans carried out 66.

The IMC says if the figures were translated to the South, there would have been 25 murders, 430 shooting victims and 400 victim assaults.

Having insufficient time to compile a full report on other criminal activities, the IMC concluded the IRA was involved in smuggling cigarettes and fuel; the UDA and LVF were deeply involved in drug-dealing and the UVF involved in robberies. The seven paramilitary groups were still active, all classed as dangerous or potentially dangerous. All but two are supposedly on ceasefire. It seems there's still elements of 'no activities' that paramilitaries themselves do not understand.