Official IRA also decommissions

A second republican paramilitary group in the North announced today that it had decommissioned its weapons.

The so-called Official IRA, a relatively small organisation most active in the 1970s, confirmed it had destroyed its guns.

The declaration was made at a Belfast press conference which came only two hours after a separate republican splinter group, the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), confirmed it had disarmed.

The timing of the separate announcements is thought to be linked to the fact that the legislation which allows illegal groups to decommission weapons without fear of prosecution runs out tomorrow.

The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD), formed 13 years ago, was empowered by the Government to oversee the disposal of paramilitary weaponry, but its mandate is set to end.

The IICD, led by General John de Chastelain, oversaw the most noted disarmament episode in 2005 when the mainstream Provisional IRA allowed its arms to be destroyed.

In a statement, the latest group to disarm said: “The Official IRA have confirmed that, in keeping with the long held position within the Official Republican tradition of promoting and pursuing the development of peaceful, democratic and inclusive politics on the Island of Ireland, a process of engagement was unilaterally entered into with the decommissioning body and has reached a successful conclusion.

“The purpose of this engagement was to ensure that all weapons which were under the control of the Official IRA or to which the Official IRA had access were accounted for and transferred to the control of the decommissioning body.

“We have emphasised our commitment to removing any doubts that may exist that there are any Official IRA weapons in circulation.

“To this end an extensive nationwide inventory has been completed to confirm and verify that all such equipment has been located, identified and transferred to the decommissioning body. Any other such equipment, which has not been submitted to the decommissioning process, has no association with the Official IRA.”

The Official IRA emerged in 1969/70 when, at the start of the Troubles, the republican movement split into the Official and Provisional IRA, with the ``Provos'' becoming the largest organisation of its kind.

The Official IRA declared a ceasefire in 1972, but later became involved in bitter republican feuds, while there were also claims that remnants of the organisation continued to be linked to illegal activities since then.

It is understood to have killed around 57 people.

Today the group said it had abandoned violence and indicated that public support for the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and the wider peace process should be recognised.

It added: “To those groups still intent on a violent agenda and who would declare themselves the protectors of the community against the oppressor, we say listen to the voice of that community.

“They spoke loud and clear in their demand for peace and, by ignoring that voice, you yourselves have become the oppressor.

“It is time for you to leave the past and catch up.”

The announcement came after the INLA, which killed more than 100 people during the Troubles, confirmed it had decommissioned its weapons.

The separate announcements were welcomed by the Irish and British Governments, while Sinn Féin and a loyalist group also welcomed the moves as further positive news for the peace process.

Four months ago the INLA used a graveside oration outside Dublin to confirm its “armed struggle is over” and it vowed to end its 35-year campaign of violence.

Today Martin McMonagle, a former INLA prisoner and spokesman for its political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), said: “The nature of the conflict in the north of Ireland for a generation dictated that armed struggle was the only option available to those who wished to bring down a corrupt and stubborn regime and to remove the British occupation from Ireland and we make no apology for our part in the conflict.

“We believe that conditions have now changed in such a way that other options are open to revolutionaries in order to pursue and ultimately achieve our objectives.”

He added: “On October 11 2009, the INLA announced that our military war was over, concluding that the time was right to reaffirm the primacy of politics and clearly stating that it is our belief that armed struggle is not a viable option at this time. We can now also confirm that the INLA has disarmed.”

Trades union leaders who helped in the INLA decommissioning process – including assistant general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Peter Bunting - confirmed their belief that all the group’s arms had been destroyed. The IICD is also expected to confirm the decommissioning took place.

A second IRSP spokesman and former INLA prisoner Willie Gallagher declined to catalogue the weaponry that was decommissioned and would only confirm that rifles, handguns and explosives were involved.

Asked about one of the INLA’s most infamous attacks of the Troubles, the murder of Conservative MP Airey Neave when a bomb exploded beneath his car as he left the House of Commons in 1979, he refused to apologise or condemn the bombing.

“Airey Neave was a casualty of war. We have no regrets whatever about that particular action,” he said.

Asked if today’s announcement offered a chance to apologise for such attacks, he said: “The INLA statement clearly outlined that the INLA had no regrets for its involvement in conflict.

“We viewed Airey Neave as an enemy combatant and a casualty of war. Of course, we do sympathise with his family, like all families that have been bereaved on both sides.

“We do regret all deaths, but we believe that deaths such as Airey Neave were necessary in the conflict and our prosecution of the war.”

Mr McMonagle was sentenced to 23 years in jail in 1993 for his links to a planned INLA bombing campaign in England, but was released early under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Gallagher said he was jailed in 1983 for a bomb attack on police and served 18 years in jail.

The INLA was formed in 1974 and was known as a brutally violent organisation that also engaged in bitter internal feuds.

The ruthless paramilitary group was also responsible for one of the largest death tolls of the Troubles in 1982 when it killed 17 people – including 11 soldiers and six civilians – in a bomb attack on the Droppin’ Well pub in Ballykelly, Co Derry.

The group wound its campaign down in the 1990s in the aftermath of ceasefires by the IRA and the main loyalist groups, but it continued to be involved in sporadic violence and criminal activity.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern welcomed the decommissioning announcement and said: “These events are further positive developments as we look to finally close the last chapter of the conflict and ensure a peaceful future for all the people of Northern Ireland.”

He also praised IICD chief General John de Chastelain and the work of the agency.

“Their work has been critical to the success of the peace process and they have faced their task at all times with immense patience, professionalism and dedication,” he said.

“Ireland owes them a great debt of gratitude.”

Sinn Féin Assembly member Gerry Kelly welcomed the decommissioning news and said: “Other small militarist factions, both republican and loyalist, who are opposed to the peace process need now also to reflect on their position, given the political realities of 2010, and end their futile armed actions.

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The loyalist Ulster Political Research Group, linked to the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA), also welcomed the INLA announcement.

“We are sure we can speak for the widest spectrum of opinion in the loyalist community when we congratulate those who have shown great leadership within the socialist community and who have had the vision and taken great risks to create a new environment for the future where violence is no longer a viable option and where weapons are a thing of the past,” it said.

Over recent months the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force decommissioned, as did the UDA, though a splinter group that had broken away from the mainstream UDA has yet to finally announce that its weapons are destroyed.