North in Crisis: Provos ‘effectively’ stood down but hardliners still use violence, says Michael McDowell
Mr McDowell, minister at the time of the IRA decision to “end the armed struggle” in July 2005, said the Irish and British governments had taken the view to allow the IRA to exist as an “inert paper thing”.
He said the decision was taken not to insist on a formal liquidation of the IRA, which could run the risk of a break-away group taking over the mantle.
He said the current issue was whether the murder of John McGuigan, a former IRA prisoner, in Belfast on August 12 was “conducted by the IRA itself” or by former members. The PSNI believe the fatal shooting was in retaliation for the murder of Gerard “Jock” Davidson, a former IRA Belfast commander, last May.
Mr McDowell told Today with Sean O’Rourke on RTÉ it would be “foolish” of him to speculate on the IRA’s possible involvement .
But on the question of the IRA’s continued existence post 2005, he said: “At the time, the governments were faced with a choice do they ask for some formal self-winding up or liquidation of the IRA and what would the consequences be.
“The judgement at the time of the two governments was if a convention of IRA members was held and the majority decided to end the IRA that a small minority would break away and say that since the IRA no longer existed they were the IRA.”
Mr McDowell said the question was what would be “its status” thereafter. “The understanding he [Gerry Adams] reached with the government at the time that it [the IRA] would become an inert, paper thing, which only existed for the purpose of denying anyone else the right to claim it was the IRA”.
On recent developments, he said: “What has happened in the meantime is there has been incidents on the border, in relation to smuggling gangs engaging in killings, incidents in Belfast where people associated with the IRA have been engaged in criminality and you have the two recent appalling murders in Belfast.
“What is being asked by the PSNI is whether this is being conducted by the IRA itself or by people who used to be in the IRA and that’s the issue they are investigating.”
He said he retained his overall view of the IRA: “I believe — and this may be wishful thinking — I believe the IRA has effectively been stood down as a paramilitary organisation and I believe at the same time that there still remains a group in Belfast of hardline former paramilitaries who are still nominally in the IRA and who settle scores and who are capable of settling scores among themselves by extreme violence and are capable of using violence on other people.”
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