IRA defections claim is denied by Sinn Fein

Senior members of Sinn Fein have denied a claim by IRA dissidents that 35 members of the IRA in south Armagh have left the paramilitary…

Senior members of Sinn Fein have denied a claim by IRA dissidents that 35 members of the IRA in south Armagh have left the paramilitary group. And Mr Martin Meehan, a veteran republican, has stated that all IRA prisoners continue to support Sinn Fein and the peace process.

The Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, described the claim reported in yesterday's Irish Times as "media hype".

A spokesman for the dissidents had stated that the bulk of the IRA's "1st Battalion, South Armagh Brigade" had resigned after meeting the IRA leadership last Saturday night and were acting in solidarity with other IRA members who resigned recently.

Mr McLaughlin said he contacted Sinn Fein members in south Armagh about yesterday's report, "and I can say with absolute confidence that the entire Sinn Fein organisation in that area are absolutely behind the leadership, and the peace process".

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The Armagh republicans also told him that the report of 35 local IRA members resigning was "nonsense". Accusing this newspaper of irresponsibility he added: "Going to print with a story that turns out not to have any foundation is a very serious issue."

He said the claims were speculative, without foundation, and could not be substantiated. Referring to last week's resignations of Sinn Fein members in Co Louth he added: "The focus on a few members who chose to leave, and notified the media before they did so, has taken far more column inches than is justified."

In Paris, Mr Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, said: "I only read of these resignations in your newspaper this morning. I assume I would have heard about them." He had received no indication of any new resignations.

"I can assure you that Sinn Fein's commitment is to our peace strategy. We will not be deflected from that," Mr Adams said. Nine Sinn Fein members had resigned.

"I don't know how many members from the IRA, but they said a small number, and the IRA has credibility and cohesion."

Mr Gerry Kelly, a senior member of the Sinn Fein talks team, also strenuously played down the dissidents' claim of resignations. "I know of nothing that would give substance to (yesterday's) story that there have been resignations from the south Armagh area," he said in a statement.

Calling for greater movement in the talks he added: "Republicans have taken on our responsibilities in relation to working for an end to conflict and to building the peace process. Indeed it is republicans who have taken the greatest risks in all of this. There have been resignations from Sinn Fein and the IRA. While we are sorry that people have resigned everybody has a right to their own opinion."

Mr Meehan, who served more than 20 years in jail on IRA charges, said republican prisoners were solidly behind the leadership of the republican movement.

"They have been the backbone of this whole peace process, and they support the leadership to the hilt regarding the tactics they are deploying on the whole peace process," he said.

After addressing Queen's University's Republican Society on prisoners' issues yesterday, Mr Meehan said he had not noticed any general republican dissension. Mr Meehan is chairman of the republican prisoners' group, Saoirse. "Without the release of political prisoners the peace process is going nowhere," he said.

The deputy SDLP leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, after meeting the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, yesterday, said he was aware of "unrest" in west Belfast and south Armagh, two areas that had not seen the benefits of peace. "People in these areas were still living with saturation security, and the question had to be asked, why should those areas suffer when the absence of such security in other areas was helping the peace process?"

The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said it was not surprising there should be tensions during the talks process. "What matters is that the evidence I receive in no way affects the validity of the IRA ceasefire, or Sinn Fein's position in the talks," she added.

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty is the former Northern editor of The Irish Times