A former IRA commander in Belfast and leader of republican prisoners in the Maze has criticised the Sinn Fein leadership and its political strategy. Mr Brendan Hughes said republican goals had not been achieved and without the IRA's armed campaign politics had no substance.
Mr Hughes, a former associate of Mr Gerry Adams, attended a press conference in west Belfast yesterday to launch a new magazine, Fourthwrite, edited by former IRA prisoners who advocate debate among republicans.
In an article in the magazine, Mr Hughes said: "In 1969, we had a naive enthusiasm about what we wanted. Now we have no enthusiasm. It is not because people are war weary - they are politics weary.
"The same old lies regurgitated week in week out. With the war, politics had some substance. Now it has none. The political process has created a class of professional liars and unfortunately it contains many republicans." Mr Hughes said loyalty had previously made him reluctant to speak out and he accused the leadership of "exploiting" its activists' loyalty.
He denounced the Belfast Agreement: "Overall, the facade has been cleaned up but the bone structure remains the same. The state we set out to smash still exists. All the questions raised in the course of this struggle have not been answered and the republican struggle has not been concluded."
Mr Hughes said a central plank of British "counter-insurgency strategy" had been "to mould [republican] leaderships that they could deal with". People were "demoralised and disillusioned" but it was possible "to pull enough together to first question what has happened and then try to change things". Fourthwrite is edited by former IRA prisoners including Mr Anthony McIntrye from west Belfast who served 18 years in the HBlocks, and Mr Tommy McKearney from Co Tyrone who served 16 years.
Mr McIntrye said he left Sinn Fein in protest at the Belfast Agreement and the "culture of censorship". He said attempts had been made to stop him criticising the leadership.