IRA ‘army council’ still exists
The IRA’s ruling body, the ‘army council’ still exists, Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers tells MPs.
Ms Villiers was detailing the findings of an official assessment of paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland to the House of Commons.
The report was commissioned after the murder of Kevin McGuigan Sr in Belfast in August.
The police’s belief that current IRA members may have been involved in the killing led to a political crisis.
Sinn Féin insists that the Provisional IRA has gone away and no longer exists.
The report was compiled by the police and the security service, MI5.
She said the assessment showed the IRA and other main paramilitary groups that operated during the Troubles still existed.
The Northern Ireland secretary said that even if these groups wanted to return to terrorism “they would be unable to resurrect the capability demonstrated at their peak”.
Ms Villiers said the security assessment is that the Provisional IRA’s ‘army council’ had a “wholly political focus”.
The Northern Ireland secretary told MPs the police and MI5 assessment showed that the IRA “is not involved in targeting or conducting terrorist attacks against the state”.
She added that some individual IRA members remain involved in criminal activity, such as large scale smuggling.
