Unionist's plan 'further action' over 'IRA list'

The Ulster Unionist Council has pledged to take ‘‘further action’’ following the discovery of a list of senior Conservatives in IRA intelligence files.

It was feared that if the list is evidence of recent intelligence gathering it could be proof that the IRA was preparing to go back to violence and wreck the Northern Ireland peace process.

The potentially devastating document was seized during searches following a break-in at Special Branch offices in Belfast blamed on republicans.

Despite denials from the provisional movement that it was preparing to go back to war, a loyalist politician whose name was also on the list said it could spell disaster.

Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said: ‘‘The IRA cannot have it both ways.

‘‘If they think the Ulster Unionist Party is going to sit back and ignore their activities they can think again.’’

A meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council’s ruling executive last night unanimously passed a motion take the matter further.

Although tactics have yet to be finalised, party leader and Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble, who flew back to Ulster last night, is now expected to press for sanctions against Sinn Fein.

This could involve demanding the republican party’s exclusion from Northern Ireland’s power sharing government.

As politicians whose details were included on the document were being alerted, security sources in Belfast confirmed that the list was recovered in the New Lodge area of the city.

Both the acting chief constable, Colin Cramphorn, and Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid insisted there was no information to suggest the IRA was on the verge of a new campaign of violence.

Sinn Fein claimed it was the latest attempt by security forces to falsely accuse republicans of last month’s burglary at the Castlereagh complex in east Belfast when top-secret Special Branch files were stolen.

The list was found during a series of searches in Belfast and Derry following the St Patrick’s Day raid on the high security police base - but it was not among documents stolen when three intruders overpowered a Special Branch officer.

With IRA intelligence gathering files understood to have been updated last month, detectives were also examining calls made from a number of mobile phones in west Belfast.

Backing Mr Cramphorn’s assessment that the IRA was not preparing to go back to violence, Dr Reid said: ‘‘There is no indication that the IRA is either about to or intending to recommence its campaign.’’

But he demanded an end to paramilitary intelligence gathering.

‘‘All organisations need to dismantle the apparatus of terrorism in all its forms,’’ he said.

But the Conservative’s spokesman on Northern Ireland Quentin Davies claimed the discovery cast major doubts on the IRA’s ceasefire and Prime Minister Tony Blair’s assessment of it.

Just days after he visited the staunchly republican south Armagh area, Mr Davies said: ‘‘It comes in a week in which the IRA has been accused of procuring new weapons and of involvement in the murder of a taxi driver in Co Tyrone.

‘‘In the Belfast Agreement, Sinn Fein/IRA has committed itself to pursuing ‘exclusively peaceful and democratic means’.’’

SDLP leader and Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan claimed ongoing IRA activity was a ‘‘cause of continuing concern’’ to many in the peace process.

‘‘We have all known that the IRA has continued to be active at a number of different levels since the ceasefire.

‘‘The only people who have been in denial of this at times have been Sinn Fein spokespersons.’’

But Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness urged people to be sceptical of claims that the IRA has updated its intelligence gathering.

He claimed the accusations had come from people with an ‘‘anti-peace process agenda’’.

Party colleague Conor Murphy insisted that the latest revelation was proof of a Special Branch cover-up.

‘‘It is being driven by securocrats whose agenda is to subvert and to undermine the entire peace process,’’ he said.

Labour Party leader, Ruairi Quinn, called on Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams to make an ‘‘immediate statement to clarify the position’’ on behalf of the republican movement as to whether the document was authentic and recent.

Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan added: ‘‘If the hit-list is of recent origin, this is a matter of serious concern which requires immediate clarification.’’