Northern Ireland remains in crisis, claims republican

One of Ireland’s most hard-line republican politicians today claimed the current suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly marked “the chronic instability of English rule in Ireland“.

Ruairi O Bradaigh, head of Republican Sinn Féin – a faction that broke away when Gerry Adams adopted a more political role for the mainstream party in the mid-1980s- also declared “the artificial means cobbled together to administer an artificial statelet remains in crisis“.

And, delivering the keynote address near the end of his party’s two-day annual conference in Dublin, he added: “Both the British government and the Dublin administration have stated publicly their intention to crush all opposition to the re-jigged Stormont set-up, which is sectarian in nature and has failed to date.“

Claiming harassment of his group’s sympathisers on both sides of the border, Mr O Bradaigh maintained: “Our members and supporters will not be intimidated by this campaign of coercion, but will continue to organise and recruit throughout Ireland, putting forward unashamedly the Irish Republican agenda of ending British rule and creating a New Ireland negotiated by the Irish people themselves.”

Republican Sinn Féin’s reputed military wing are the Continuity IRA, who have been involved with their also outlawed Real IRA allies – who carried out the mass murder bomb attack on Omagh, Co Tyrone, five years ago – in a number of terrorist incidents.

Mr O Bradaigh has repeatedly denied the Continuity IRA connection, but today he referred to what he called this year’s “well-publicised show trial” of Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt that led to his jailing for 20 years.

He charged “The occasion was availed of to slander members of the national leadership of Republican Sinn Féin.

“Republican Sinn Féin bases its stand on the fact that Ireland is a sovereign nation, and sovereign nations the world over have the right to defend themselves and to resist foreign aggression.

“We state that Ireland is no exception to this principle. We state further that there will be no “full and final closure to the conflict” between Irish republicanism and English imperialism and colonialism until the British government signals to the world its intention of leaving Ireland forever.”