EXCLUSIVE: 'New IRA poses greatest threat' - new Deputy Chief Constable
Paramilitary group has sinister element manipulating youths
By Damien Edgar, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
The New IRA is now the biggest threat among dissident republican groups in Northern Ireland, new PSNI Deputy Chief Constable has revealed.
The European Law Enforcement Agency named the Real IRA, the Continuity IR, Oglaigh na hEireann and Arm Na Poblachta as the four major paramilitary groups posing the greatest risk to securing in the province.
In an exclusive interview with Downtown & Cool FM, DCC Stephen Martin, said the Real IRA was the most sinister.
“Of those four groups, the New IRA would be the largest and the one that would pose the greatest breadth of threat across Northern Ireland,” he said.
A recent Europol report showed 87 out of 107 terror incidents across Europe last year were based in Northern Ireland.
These stark figures were thrown into sharp focus by six nights of violence in Londonderry believed to be instigated by the New IRA.
“It does show you that these groups do have a presence in the city – I don’t see it as a very big presence but it does amount to several dozen people in that area – and of course they seek to manipulate young people,” he said.
“Petrol bombing, firing shots at police, throwing improvised bombs at police is completely out of step with the wishes and ambitions of the people of that city."