New IRA leader visited Portlaoise Prison to advance ceasefire talks

It is understood that a senior Belfast leader of the New IRA visited jailed members in Portlaoise Prison a few weeks ago to discuss a ceasefire. Picture: iStock

Discussions are being held to try to secure a ceasefire from the largest dissident republican group, the New IRA, it has emerged.

The Irish Examiner has been told by several sources that “discussions are taking place” and that the possibility of a ceasefire could be “significant” in terms of a reduced security threat from dissidents.

It is understood that a senior Belfast leader of the New IRA visited jailed members in Portlaoise Prison a few weeks ago to discuss the issue.

It’s estimated there are five New IRA prisoners in the country’s only high-security prison, including the leader in the South, Kevin Braney, from Tallaght in Dublin.

A mural of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast. Ms McKee died after she was shot by dissident republican group the New IRA while observing clashes with police in the Creggan estate in Derry. Picture: David Young/PA

It is thought that while the New IRA leadership in Belfast, Armagh, Tyrone, and in the South, are in favour of a ceasefire, that the more independent New IRA group in Derry is opposed.

The confirmation of discussions follows reports in the Belfast Telegraph recently that the terrorist group is involved in talks with both the Irish and British governments.

It comes as a violent feud looks set to escalate between two factions of a separate dissident group, the so-called Óglaigh na hÉireann (OnH) and its political arm, Republican Network for Unity (RNU), following an attempted murder and retaliatory death threats.

Cork arrests

Separately, gardaí in Cork are preparing a file for the DPP after a major operation targeting the Real IRA in Cork, the only part of the island where the group continues to operate.

Sources said the Real IRA is feuding with a New IRA group in Cork.

They estimate there are around 10 active members between the two factions, with six of the individuals thought to be of “real concern”.

The garda operation is another blow to the Real IRA, which sources said lost a number of senior people to the RNU in the last couple of years.

'At least seven murders'

The New IRA, which formed in 2012 from a merger of the bulk of the Real IRA, vigilante group Republican Action Against Drugs, and prominent republicans in Tyrone, has been linked to at least seven murders.

One of those murders was of journalist Lyra McKee, aged 29, who was hit by a bullet while observing rioting in the Creggan area of Derry on April 18, 2019. The New IRA claimed responsibility.

The Real IRA is also suspected of being involved in the attempted murder of PSNI Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

The group is also suspected of being involved in the attempted murder of PSNI Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell in Omagh in February 2023.

The New IRA is considered the largest dissident group in the North and in the South.

The terror group was seriously hit in 2020 by Operation Arbacia, a covert surveillance operation by MI5, the British Security Service, and PSNI, which resulted in ten people being charged.

In 2023, off-duty PSNI Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was shot a number of times by masked men in front of young people he had been coaching at the Killyclogher Rd sports complex in Omagh, Co Tyrone. 

“Operation Arbacia broke their neck,” one security source said.

“The Belfast/Armagh/Tyrone leadership know that they are too weak and too riddled with informers to keep anything going.”

It is understood that the Derry New IRA — which sources say has operated largely independently for years — is opposed to the ceasefire.

Security services on both sides of the border are also thought to be examining if the talk of ceasefire by the New IRA is “tactical” — to secure the release of prisoners, or “strategic” — reflecting a genuine commitment to end violence.

However, sources said a ceasefire could be a “significant” development in terms of the reduced threat from dissident republicans – with the greater threat posed by loyalist paramilitaries.

Some sources have speculated that a rump of the Derry New IRA could join with the small dissident republican group, Arm na Poblachta.

MI5 reduced the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland from “severe” to “substantial” in March 2024.