Sinn Fein contact with dissident inclined republican group is ‘troubling’ says anti terror police expert

Norman Baxter was responding to news of the communication from Sinn Fein’s chairman Declan Kearney to Saoradh, a group accused of having links to the New IRA, which mooted a potential “co-operation agreement” over “achieving a border poll”.

Mr Baxter, who as a chief superintendent in the RUC and head of serious crime took the lead into investigations such as the dissident republican Omagh bomb and many other terrorist murders, said: “It is a very troubling letter.”

Sinn Fein’s vice-president Michelle O’Neill confirmed at the weekend that Mr Kearney had written to Saoradh, but said it was to tell “those people to say that they must now work towards unity and changing the constitutional position, but only by consent, only by the public working together”.

Saoradh denies that it has links to the New IRA, the dissident republican group linked to the journalist Lyra McKee’s murder in 2019. Ms McKee died after being hit by a bullet during rioting in the Creggan area of Londonderry.

Mr Baxter said the development “raises the question of whether or not there was contact prior to such a letter”.

He said: “How far has this engagement gone?”

Mr Baxter also said of the letter from Sinn Fein to Saoradh: “Most people will want to be reassured that there is no commonality of purpose in the use of violence.”

He added: “People will also want to be reassured that mainline republicans are not maintaining contact with people who are diametrically opposed to Sinn Fein’s public position of pursuing democratic means.”

Meanwhile, Lyra McKee’s sister has described the timing of the leaked letter as “exploitative of the tragedy for political purposes”.

In a statement, Nichola McKee-Corner said she had been aware since 2019 of Sinn Fein’s “efforts to encourage dissident republican groups, including Saoradh, to move away from violence and engage with the political process”.

“I am also aware that this encouragement has been unsuccessful to date,” she said.

“I would question the timing of the publication of this letter (given that it is over two years old) and the links made to my murdered sister.

“I view this as exploitation of our Lyra’s murder for political purposes in the run up to the election and find this entirely reprehensible.

“The people who chose to do this should hang their heads in shame for using my beloved sister in this way.”

Ms McKee’s partner, Sara Canning, was also sceptical about the timing of the release of the letter.

She said news of the letter did not surprise her as she felt it was inevitable that there would be attempts to “try and bring them into the fold to a degree”.

“I’m not a Sinn Fein fan but that’s how things were done in the 1990s, and that’s how violence was brought to an end here, we brought the people into the political realm,” she told the BBC.

Yesterday the TUV said that the fact Sinn Fein was willing to engage with dissidents showed the party had exposed its “true colours”.

Meanwhile, the Alliance Party has said that the only dialogue anyone should be having with terror organisations is telling them to disband.

The party’s Assembly candidate John Blair yesterday issued a statement on the matter, drawing attention to the LCC (Loyalist Communities Council) – a kind of umbrella group involving figures connected to the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando.

Mr Blair said: “The only conversations we should be having with active paramilitaries, their front organisations or those who speak on their behalf, is around when they are going to leave the stage.

“That goes for a letter to Saoradh from Sinn Fein’s Declan Kearney or engagement with the Loyalist Communities Council.”