IRA Splinter Group to Renounce Violence

Irish National Liberation Army Commits to Handing Over Weapons to Disarmament Officials

(AP)  Last Updated 10:12 a.m. ET

The Irish National Liberation Army, an IRA splinter group responsible for some of the most notorious killings of the Northern Ireland conflict, said Sunday it is formally renouncing violence and plans to hand over weapons to disarmament officials.

Two officials — one a member of the outlawed paramilitary group, the other a member of its Marxist political party — told The Associated Press that the INLA is making both commitments 11 years after declaring a shaky cease-fire.

Both officials spoke on condition they not be named because the peace commitments are being unveiled publicly at a commemoration service in Bray, south of Dublin, later Sunday.

The ceremony honors the 32nd anniversary of the murder of INLA founder Seamus Costello, who was gunned down by an IRA member in Dublin in October 1977.

The officials said the announcement was not timed to coincide with Sunday's visit to Dublin and Belfast by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

But the INLA move was widely seen as a shot in the arm for Northern Ireland's largely successful peace process, which has already delivered IRA disarmament and a Catholic-Protestant government in Northern Ireland.

The officials said the statement, to be read by a member of the INLA-linked Irish Republican Socialist Party, would commit the underground group to observe "exclusively peaceful means" and to deliver weaponry to Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain, leader of an international commission that oversees the disarmament of illegal groups.

The INLA was born amid bloody internal feuding within Irish Republican Army circles in Belfast, Londonderry and Dublin in the mid-1970s. The new splinter group's leaders proclaimed devotion to Marxism and hostility to the burgeoning political realism of some IRA leaders.

The INLA sought to usurp the IRA as the major anti-British paramilitary group in Northern Ireland and, chiefly in the early 1980s, committed high-profile and mass killings that upstaged the much larger IRA.

The INLA in March 1979 became the only paramilitary group to kill a British lawmaker within the grounds of Parliament in London, when it used a booby-trap bomb to kill Airey Neave, the Northern Ireland adviser to Margaret Thatcher, as he drove his car out of the lawmakers' parking lot.

The group, under the command of former IRA hit man Dominic "Mad Dog" McGlinchey, in December 1982 bombed a Northern Ireland disco frequented by British troops. Eleven soldiers and six Protestant women were killed. The following year it machine-gunned a rural Protestant gospel hall during Sunday service, killing three men.

The INLA soon unraveled amid fratricidal feuds driven by control over criminal rackets and money, and a succession of its commanders were killed by colleagues. Often, its top targets were members of rival anti-British gangs.

The last major INLA killing was the December 1997 assassination in Northern Ireland's main prison of Billy "King Rat" Wright, the commander of an anti-Catholic paramilitary group called the Loyalist Volunteer Force. Protestant extremists responded to Wright's murder — by INLA prisoners using two smuggled handguns — by slaying nearly a dozen Catholic civilians across Northern Ireland.

After the British and Irish governments and rival Catholic and Protestant parties achieved the Good Friday accord of 1998, the INLA announced it would observe an open-ended truce — not because it supported the peace pact, but because it recognized there was no longer sufficient Catholic support for "armed struggle."

The INLA cease-fire has proved leaky at best, reflecting the group's rival factions in Dublin and Belfast and its deep involvement in a range of criminal rackets, including drugs, counterfeit goods and smuggled cigarettes. INLA gunmen have killed or wounded more than two dozen civilians, mostly criminal rivals, in both parts of Ireland over the past decade.

[bubbadubba]

<<<What an utterly naive comment. There are many religious based terrorist organizations out there of many different religions. Just because they don't appear on national news broadcasts doesn't mean they don't exist. Talk about an self-centered view of the world!>>>

Personal attacks on me will not change anything because I don't take orders from people like you and you will NOT stop me from expressing my opinion. Period.
But I do appreciate you making the topic about me, it makes me feel important.
So how about listing those many "religion based" terrorist groups going around blowing things up?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Well? Help us out.

[chonder2]

If only the Republican fringe would denounce idiocy!

[ToolMangler1]

by chonder2


That fringe is really 'bi-partisan'

[abdul91-2009]

This is good news indeed, and I sincerely hope the Protestant Right Wing parties will not exploit this gesture to their own advantage. The violence in Northern Ireland was really a class based conflict and I am glad it is coming to an end.

[ToolMangler1]

If the Catholics and Protestants were to go back to "worshipping" GOD and not their Idea of his way of doing things, these confrontations would ever happen.

[Cyber998]

"That leaves Muslims as the only religious based terrorist group in the world"

What an utterly naive comment. There are many religious based terrorist organizations out there of many different religions. Just because they don't appear on national news broadcasts doesn't mean they don't exist. Talk about an self-centered view of the world!

[ToolMangler1]

"What an utterly naive comment"



I believe he meant 'That are in a position to hurt us'.

If we can stop the Extremist groups from spreading their hatred and rebuild the places they have destroyed, we will remove our biggest problems and then we can pay attention to the 'fringe' groups and smooth things out.

[legacyabq]

Thank God

[medeasbiggestfan]

We shouldn't think this is the end of the conflict. The CIRA and RIRA are still out there, trying to destroy the peace and democracy of Northern Irland.

[bubbadubba]

That leaves Muslims as the only religious based terrorist group in the world but then again the IRA was about discrimination and occupation and the Muslim terrorists are about world domination.
I am glad for Ireland that they will be able to live in peace.

[Jallopie]

As an Irish person from the Republic (which never saw violence like Britain and Northern Ireland did) I can tell you now that what happened in Northern Ireland had absolutely nothing to do with religion and I don't know why American news stations always insist on reporting it so. It's about one side wanting to remain part of the UK and the other side wanting to join the Republic. Both arguments are pointless by now, neither country wants Northern Ireland. Our taxes pay $1.5bn a year to pay for development in a country the Irish people don't want -which is ridiculous. The problem now is that only 5% of Northerners want to be independent from both countries which makes it really annoying for the Government in Dublin and the Government in London because they would delete Northern Ireland if they could. The reasons also go deeper than just financial cost, there is a serious cultural difference in N.I compared to the R.O.I and The U.K. There is a culture of hate where hatred extends to new immigrants, the gay community and any minority group you can name. The same isn't true for the Republic and The U.K, tolerance and liberalism has long been used by the majority of people in both countries. Don't believe what the politicians tell you, in N.I there aren't small minorities causing harm there are HUGE minorities causing harm. Just so you know for reference the Unionists/Loyalists are the Conservative side (I mean fundamentalist Conservative!) and the Nationalists are the Liberal/Socialist side -which is quite hilarious considering that the country they are so desperate to become a part of is probably the most capitalist in Europe (although very liberal)

[gw185]

To Jallopie. From someone living in northern Ireland, yes the conflict had nothing to do with religion and as you said, the republic never experienced the same level of violence as in the North. Therefore you likely never saw the aftermath of a bomb, felt true fear and with that developed a distrust (rational at the time) of the other community. Many of those terrorists came from the south, planted their bombs (military or civilian targets) and just simply drove over the border to your country, where the chances of them being brought to justice was pretty pathetic. You said that R of I and the UK would delete Northern Ireland if they could, very convenient, eradicate a problem that both governments helped create.
I do fail to see the reason why republicans and nationalists desire a United Ireland. Look at Ireland, an economy built from European handouts, today with double the unemployment rate compared to the north. Not helped by southern shoppers over the last year coming to Northern Ireland to buy goods, supporting our businesses, while watching southern border businesses close.
You said ?culture of hate where hatred extends to new immigrants, the gay community and any minority group you can name. Yes that?s why Polish workers in Dublin are complaining of discrimination, other foreigners have been threatened with the sack for speaking their native languages during lunch and two polish men were killed this year by screwdrivers. Racial abuse targeted at Zambians, Nigerians and other people of coloured skin. In relation to gays, in the north, Gay couples can have civil partnerships while this is not legal in the south.
Should we look at the numerous Catholic church scandals, Oh so many along with the recent political scandals in the south. Do you remember central Dublin being brought to a standstill in 2006 with burning cars, thrown missiles, vandalism and looting after a love Ulster parade to commemorate the Unionist victims of the troubles? Where is this Republic you speak of?
Both countries have their fair share of idiots,but these are minorities on both sides of the border.

[casionova]

"I do fail to see the reason why republicans and nationalists desire a United Ireland. Look at Ireland, an economy built from European handouts..."

Sounds like your arguing the troubles all over again, with all the even-handedness of the orange order.

Your aware that the standard of living in Ireland is higher than the UK? That Ireland is a net contributor to the EU and has been for years, not to mention the billions of ? of fish stocks given to EU fishing fleets. Its even subsidising Northern Ireland along with Britain.

The figures show that the vast majority of terrorists were from NI.

Every town in Ireland is multi religous, multi racial and multi ethnic and doesnt have armed gangs intimidating foreigners or burning down their houses. While NI was stuck in sectarian warfare the rest of Ireland was building a modern state attractive to foreign investment and business.

[gw185]

?sounds like your arguing the troubles all over again?
Thats some statement. So the moment you criticise a country that automatically means in your mind that violence must be intended. That statement says a lot more about you than me.
?The figures show that the vast majority of terrorists were from NI? The majority may have be born in northern Ireland but the Republic sheltered many republican murders, prevented justice.
?Every town in Ireland is multi religous, multi racial and multi ethnic and doesn?t have armed gangs intimidating foreigners or burning down their houses?. Interesting you seem to have never been to northern Ireland, my town is multi religious, multi racial and multi ethnical doesn?t have armed gangs, no one intimidates foreigners, burns down houses, murders foreigners, but these clearly happens in the republic with an increasing frequency, foreigners are claiming the recession has escalated the hatred.
Southern protestants claim intimidation, their buildings have been attacked recently and the events of 2006 show that the republic is routed in the same sort of mind set.

[John_Merritt]

That's good news except who is going to take care of the criminals the IRA has been working on?