Three Irish groups on US list of terrorists

The US State Department has named three Irish groups - the Continuity IRA, the Orange Volunteers, and the Red Hand Defenders - on its "terrorist exclusion list".

The listing, along with 36 other groups from around the world, is a procedure provided for by the Patriot Act passed recently by Congress, which simplifies the legal process for excluding or deporting members of the groups from the US.

In reality, however, the designation will mean little to the groups, whose members would individually be denied visas if spotted.

Earlier this year the "Real IRA" was designated under separate, more far-reaching, 1996 legislation which prohibits the funding of listed organisations, allows the withholding of visas to members, and requires banks to freeze accounts.

That list includes 30 of the biggest international terrorist groups, from al-Qaeda to Colombia's FARC, but such designation requires an elaborate legal process and evidence that the group is active in the US.

In the State Department's annual "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report this year, the "Real IRA" was among a number of Irish groups listed as "non-designated" terrorist groups - they included the Provisional IRA, Continuity IRA, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), the Orange Volunteers, and the Red Hand Defenders .

In its statement yesterday, the State Department said: "We are taking a methodical approach to all aspects of the campaign to eliminate terrorism as a threat to our way of life.

"This round of Terrorist Exclusion List designations is by no means the last. We will continue to expand the list as we identify and confirm additional entities that provide support to terrorists," the statement said.

A spokesman for the State Department added: "By designating these groups, the secretary [of State, Mr Colin Powell] has strengthened the United States' ability to exclude supporters of terrorism from the country or to deport them if they are found within our borders".