Real IRA steps up campaign against dealers

THE Real IRA is “muscling” its way into communities and stepping up its campaign against drug dealers, according to gardaí and community activists.

In recent days, the paramilitary group has openly threatened drug dealers in a Dublin flats complex, whose residents were last year subjected to a reign of terror by a local drugs gang. This led to a massive Garda operation, backed by community groups in the Dolphin House complex, in the south inner city, to force the drugs gang out, which was largely successful.

Over the Easter weekend, the Real IRA (RIRA) sprayed prominent graffiti at one of the new walls in the complex, facing the busy Dolphin’s Barn bridge, with the warning: “32 CSM RIRA Pushers Beware”.

32 CSM refers to the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, the group’s political wing.

The walls were built in recent months to stymie the local drug gang.

Gardaí and community sources say this is part of the RIRA’s efforts to muscle in on local drug concerns. The group has already been linked to an arson attack on a head shop in Dublin’s north inner city last February and the shooting dead of drug dealer Gerard Staunton in Cork last January.

Last month, the 32 CSM joined protests outside a planned head shop in Clontarf.

“They are trying to ratchet things up regarding local issues, particularly drug issues,” said one security source. “It’s a combination of collecting money from drug dealers and stating ‘we’re here to protect the community’.”

He said the RIRA’s efforts had been “more prevalent” in the last year.

The security source said there were pockets of RIRA activists in different areas and that “younger individuals were joining up”.

A separate, local Garda source said there were just “one or two” individuals in the general Rialto area who were associated with the RIRA.

“They are trying to muscle their way in and are using any opportunity to hype up a situation in an attempt to recruit, in an attempt to get a base.”