(by Ed Moloney, Sunday Tribune)

The physical force tradition in Irish republicanism may have been dealt a "fatal blow" by the Omagh bombing disaster in which 29 people were killed, the so-called 'Real' IRA has conceded.

In an interview conducted last week in the wake of the organisation's ceasefire declaration a spokesperson for the RIRA leadership also claimed that the cessation was entirely Omagh-related and had nothing to do with either the new draconian anti-terrorist laws brought in by the Dublin government nor the recent threats to disband made by the Provisional IRA.

The spokesperson admitted that contacts were made on behalf of RIRA with the government in Dublin before the ceasefire but refused to go into details about the discussions nor to confirm speculation that in return for the ceasefire the new anti-terrorist laws would not be enacted against the group. "It was done in good faith and at this stage its embryonic", was all the spokesperson would say.

The group also shed new light on the split with the Provisional IRA whose leadership, they claim, had called an illegal ceasefire in 1997 and then lied to their membership. Gerry Adams, the spokesperson said, should now be honest with republican supporters and admit that the Belfast Agreement was not capable of delivering Irish unity. At the same time the organisation admits that the Agreement has seriously undermined the basis for republican opposition to the NI state.

From the reaction of the RIRA source it appears that the Omagh bomb had a devastating impact on the organisation. "The mood was of pure and utter dejection", the spokesperson said. "I can search for verbs and adjectives but it is enough to say that everybody was in a daze of dejection. We couldn't think straight nor look each other in the face. The first thought in people's mind as they watched the six o'clock news (on the day of the bombing) was 'ceasefire'.

"The impact of Omagh has yet to be seen and in retrospect a lot of the reaction, like the Provo condemnation was kneejerk. But there's no doubt that the whole physical force approach was dealt a potentially fatal blow. On top of that you had the massive endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement and between them physical force has been the main victim."

RIRA, the spokesperson added, would neither decommission its weapons nor disband in the face of Provisional IRA threats. RIRA armaments, it appears, will be dumped rather than destroyed while the organisation seems to be keeping a watching brief and an open mind on future events including renewed resort to violence.

"Decommissioning is not our issue and we'll have no truck with it. We didn't sign up to any document nor have any dealings with international bodies. We won't be responding in any way to the the threats to disband, That's a decision that would be up to the volunteers and there's no sentiment for it. At this stage in time I don't see disbandment yet. We also have a responsibility to certain people, potential prisoners and to the family of the volunteer who was killed."

The organisation admits however that the greatest danger it now faces, in common with the Provisional IRA, is disintegration. "For volunteer armies ceasefires are debilitating. They need to be constantly training, meeting and giving people things to do. Activity keeps things together. The Provos have effectively a four year ceasefire in place and they face a very serious problem in that regard. I can't see us lasting four years on a ceasefire.

"As an organisation we're in a very reflective mood at the moment. Its very much a wait-and-see situation. We have shot ourselves in the foot, we've put a big bandage on and we'll now see whether it heals. I can't say if (an armed campaign) will resume. History says it will but I don't know whether this particular group will be involved in it

"There are different irons in the fire in respect to the Agreement and a lot of pitfalls for this process. The future for physical force is that it will always be there as long as there is a British presence but it needs to have public support and Omagh has done nothing to advance that. If the Agreement tumbles around peoples heads as we believe it will, in five or ten years time physical force may manifest itself again but how tolerable or effective it will be remains an open question.

"In our view the Good Friday Agreement won't work but we're not opposing it just for opposing sakes. We've analysed it in great detail and it is a great danger to our position or to any hope of achieving our aims. It has endorsed partition and got the British off the hook. They can say they are in the North only because the Irish people voted for partition, voted against Articles 2 and 3 while at the same time they are responsible for running the place. The problem now is what is the target for Irish republicans. The sellout of nationalists and republicans by this agreement is unfathomable, unbelievable."

The RIRA spokesperson claimed that the Provisional leadership foisted the peace strategy on the republican movement by a process of stealth and deception, taking advantage in particular of the fact that the IRA rank and file was consumed with fighting the armed struggle.

"These people (the leadership) were full time politicians but IRA volunteers didn't have any time for that and missed the big picture. They were spending three days a week planning operations and the other three days trying not to get caught".

The spokesperson went on: "Some could see this coming. Ruairi O Bradaigh saw it but went out on the wrong issue and remained a tiny force. The movement was held together by the Libyan arms shipments and the belief they were there to be used. An armalite and ballot box strategy sounded good when you've got lots of armalites".

Gradually the leadership began demilitarising the IRA, the spokesperson claimed. IRA colour parties at funerals were scrapped, there was an end to the IRA speech at the Sinn Fein ard-fheis, the Fianna, the IRA's youth wing, was disbanded and councillors were no longer obliged to give unambiguous support to the IRA. Military operations were no longer justified by SF but were greeted with regretful statements calling for an end to all violence; the political lexicon changed and became "Hume-like".

"They were small things but taken collectively they were full of meaning", said the spokesperson.

With the IRA seemingly devoid of a military strategy opponents of the peace process succeeded in getting a special IRA Convention summoned in the wake of the collapse of the first ceasefire of August 1994. The Provisional leadership, RIRA contends, "bitterly opposed" that Convention but were forced to concede ground.

The power to call a ceasefire was taken out of the sole hands of the seven person Army Council and shared with the 14 member IRA Executive, a body directly elected by the IRA Convention. Any future ceasefire would not only need Executive approval but would be reviewed by the Executive every four months.

The second ceasefire of July 1997 was, RIRA claims, called unilaterally by the Army Council with no consultation with the rest of the movement. There then followed an extraordinary dispute between the IRA's principal institutions with the Executive declaring the Army Council's ceasefire illegal and in clear breach of the IRA constitution.

The dispute rumbled on but was finally settled at a second IRA Convention in October last year. At this meeting, RIRA claims, the Provisional leadership deliberately misrepresented the dispute between the Army Council and the Executive and the leadership won. "Ninety per cent of the Convention were spectators at a dispute between us which they couldn't understand," claimed the spokesperson. Despite their defeat the opponents were re-elected to the Executive but shortly after the Convention decided to break with the Provisionals.

Now RIRA is calling on Gerry Adams to "tell the truth" about the Belfast Agreement. "Fundamentally there is going to have to be some lasting statement made to the Republican base. I remember Gary McMichael saying after the Agreement was signed that Adams should be honest with republicans, that they were no closer to a United Ireland than he was to an independent Ulster. Adams is now going to have to be honest and admit that British withdrawal is impossible within the parameters of this Agreement".

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