In a house in the Republic, just a few miles from the Border, a senior member of the Continuity IRA (CIRA) said that the paramilitary group planned to escalate violence in the North and possibly renew the republican bombing campaign in Britain. A spokesman for the group voiced opposition to the forthcoming all-party talks and said: "Their logical outcome is a new Stormont and the copper-fastening of partition." The only way forward, he said, was "armed struggle". He said the CIRA would not stop until the "British make a declaration of intent to withdraw and all political prisoners are released".
The CIRA has its roots in the Sinn Fein split on abstentionism in 1986. It was formed by disillusioned IRA members who supported the break-away Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) group of Mr Ruairi O Bradaigh. They believe that Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness have abandoned traditional republican principles.
The security forces on both sides of the Border regard the CIRA as a small but dangerous paramilitary group. This interview is the first the organisation has given to a journalist.
The spokesman said that contrary to widespread media reports, his organisation was called the Continuity IRA and not the Continuity Army Council.
Garda sources have said the CIRA could have as few as 20 activists. The CIRA leader rejected this as "nonsense" but refused to reveal the extent of membership. He said: "We have units in all the 32 counties, though some areas are more active than others."
CIRA members included both former Provisionals and people in their early 20s who had never been involved with any other paramilitary group, the spokesman said. He claimed that the intelligence services on both sides of the Border had failed to penetrate the organisation.
He said that disillusionment with the peace process in hardline republican areas had aided recruitment and that the CIRA had a presence even in the Provisional IRA stronghold of west Belfast.
He acknowledged that the Provisionals retained strong control in urban areas of the North, especially Belfast and Derry, but he said the situation was "very different" in rural areas. He refused to be specific on the extent of CIRA's arms but he claimed it posed a significant threat.
The CIRA spokesman denied that it had taken any weapons from Provisional IRA arms dumps: "What we have, we have acquired from our own resources. We are capable of continuing to arm ourselves and of carrying on the struggle for the foreseeable future." He would not say whether CIRA had semtex but said it had access to commercial explosives and that its bomb-makers were concentrating on perfecting their use of home-made explosives. He said the CIRA planned to escalate its campaign and was considering starting a bombing campaign in England. He claimed that the British public would not tolerate "armed conflict within their own country for any length of time" and would demand a British withdrawal from the North.
The CIRA spokesman claimed that the Provisionals had "sold out 25 years of resistance" and CIRA was "the true and genuine republican army". It had no plans to kill loyalist politicians or paramilitary leaders as this would only "give legitimacy to Britain's claim that the conflict in the North is between two warring tribes". Garda sources insist that the CIRA is Republican Sinn Fein's paramilitary wing. Denying this, the CIRA spokesman said: "We have no formal relationship with Republican Sinn Fein, although we share their political objectives." The CIRA had turned down a request from the INLA for a meeting, he added. "We want no truck with the INLA. The history and activities of that organisation show that not all its members have been ideologically motivated."
He stated that many CIRA members had a good relationship with grassroots Provisionals but there was no co-operation between the two organisations at leadership level, and the Provisional IRA tried to "vigorously suppress" anyone who challenged their authority.
But the CIRA did not want a feud with the Provisionals, he added - "we are neither their allies nor enemies". He expressed concern that if a settlement emerged from all-party talks next year, the Provisional IRA would "police" the peace.
The spokesman agreed that the peace process had been widely supported in the nationalist community but he claimed that this was changing. "Many welcomed the first Provo ceasefire as a breather. They thought that the Provos had won something and the British would leave," he said.
He claimed that disillusionment with the process had created a "fertile recruiting ground" for the CIRA in recent months. When asked what right CIRA had to embark on a campaign of violence given its lack of electoral mandate, the spokesman said: "How many revolutionary groups through history have relied on electoral mandates before they acted? What electoral mandate had the Provos in the 1970s? Our mandate comes from 1916 and the first Dail."
He denied that such sentiments were archaic and he dismissed claims that CIRA was a conservative, right-wing organisation. "That's absolute rubbish. There is nothing in our statements to indicate that. We stand by the ideas of James Connolly. We demand a secular Ireland. The conservative fuddy-duddies are now with the Provos."