The Republic of Ireland has had enough of the IRA after its apparent involvement in a multimillion-pound armed robbery. Long averse to involving itself in the affairs of the IRA in Northern Ireland and undermining Sinn Fein's political power in the British-held Ulster province, the Republic's Justice Minister suddenly reversed decades of tradition and publicly named the leaders of the IRA. The leaders consist of the most powerful names in Northern Irish politics and the revelations will seriously damage Sinn Fein credibility in the peace process:

Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein leaders, were publicly named as members of the IRA's Army Council in an unprecedented move by the Irish government yesterday.

The public naming will heap even greater damage on republicans after a week of allegations over IRA involvement in crime. ...

Michael McDowell, the Irish justice minister, named Mr Adams, Mr McGuinness and Martin Ferris, the Kerry MP, as members of the seven man ruling IRA Army Council during a radio interview at the weekend.

The body gives the orders for all major IRA tactical actions, including sanctioning robberies, purchase of weapons and targeting.

McDowell has a history of taking tough stances against the storied rebel organization, which had a key role in freeing the Republic from centuries of English oppression. However, its modern descendant has decayed into little more than a Communist terror group, blowing up shopping malls in Omagh and London instead of conducting anything approaching a legitimate war against occupation. It openly associated itself with the PLO and other radical terrorist darlings of the Left while its political arm, Sinn Fein, insisted its skirts remained clean of the blood of the IRA's victims.

McDowell's charges will change the face of Irish politics, both in the Republic and in Northern Ireland. In the first place, such charges may keep Gerry Adams once again from traveling to the US for financial and political support, a welcome development as even we Irish descendants have learned that terrorism makes no sense for any cause. It may also wake the US and Irish governments to the folly of forcing Sinn Fein's disingenuous assertions of innocence into the power-sharing arrangement of the Good Friday accords. Those agreements now look dead, as the robbery obviously demonstrates a severe lack of commitment to any peace process that leads to self-determination by the people of Northern Ireland. Legitimate political movements don't require armed robbery for fund raising.

Eventually, the people of Northern Ireland need to come together on their own to decide what they want for a government. The nations of Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland can play key supporting roles in helping them reach agreement, as can the US if invited. What we should not do is force the people of Northern Ireland to do what we refuse to do -- negotiate with terrorists for their freedom.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Ireland Names Names -- Big Ones:

» RIP - IRA from How Do You Spell That?
I f*cking love it.... Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein leaders, were publicly named as members of the IRA's Army Council in an unprecedented move by the Irish government yesterday. All of those idiots who were clammoring for Gerry Admas... [Read More]

Tracked on February 20, 2005 10:37 PM

» The mask is off from Daly Thoughts
Via Captain Ed, good news in the battle against terrorists of all stripes: Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein leaders, were publicly named as members of the IRA's Army Council in an unprecedented move by the Irish government yesterda... [Read More]

Tracked on February 21, 2005 8:20 AM

» Outed from Ipse Dixit
Mr. McGuinness - member of the Northern Island Assembly, Minister of Education, Chief Negotiator for Sinn Féin, and convicted terrorist - has long been suspected of being a member of the IRA Army Council, but he has denied it and no solid evidence was ... [Read More]

Tracked on February 21, 2005 2:08 PM

» Daschle, Thune and the Blog-Storming of South Dakota from Personal Democracy Forum

"David Kranz and Randell Beck, are you listening? Why doesn't your paper pull out all of the stops investigating this story?" -- Jason van Beek in

Tracked on February 23, 2005 4:53 PM