Independent Reporting Commission: TUV asks Northern Ireland terrorism watchdog IRC if use of 'Army Council' alludes to IRA

The Independent Reporting Commission (IRC) was formed to address ongoing paramilitarism in the aftermath of the murder of Kevin McGuigan in Belfast in 2015.

In January former Chief Constable Sir George Hamilton said there had been “a very strong line of inquiry” that the killing was “sanctioned at senior levels” in the IRA.

The IRC has published five annual reports since its launch, but has never mentioned the IRA nor addressed the McGuigan murder – both of which it says are outside its remit.

It received significant criticism in 2018 when it gave specific assessments on the UVF and UDA – but did not name any republican groups.

On Monday IRC members gave evidence on paramilitarism to MPs on the NI Affairs Committee.

IRC member John McBurney cited a list of titles still being used by members of all NI terror groups.One of the terms was "Army Council members" which has often been used to refer to the top tier of the Provisional IRA."The [terror] groups still are constructed in militaristic fashion," he told MPs. "There are those who will call themselves brigadiers and be acknowledged as such - commanders, quartermasters, provost marshals, volunteers, army council members.”

Speaking to the News Letter, TUV leader Jim Allister asked if his comments were an IRC admission that the IRA Army Council is still operational.

Mr Allister said: “While in their reports the IRC studiously avoid even mentioning paramilitary groups by name - a quite remarkable achievement for a body which owes its genesis to the fall out after an IRA murder - this week at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee John McBurney said that there are those who will call themselves 'Army Council members'.

“Is this an admission by the IRC that the IRA Army Council still exists or an attempt to downplay the same? Does it accept the finding of the Government in 2015 when we were told that the IRA retained ‘a senior leadership, the 'Provisional Army Council' and some departments’? Does it accept the PSNI’s continuing confirmation of this situation and that the IRA Army Council still ‘oversees both PIRA and Sinn Féin with an overarching strategy’?

"Aren’t we entitled to clarity from the IRC, which bizarrely, despite its function, has been shy of naming proscribed organisations?"

Later in the same Westminster hearing, IRC member Monica McWilliams said there is a “real problem” with the East Belfast UVF and there are “problems” in terms of the INLA.

Mr Allister added: "Therefore while the Commission says it does not provide detailed security or threat or status assessments of the various paramilitary groupings, it clearly does have the ability to comment on individual paramilitary groups.”The News Letter asked the IRC if Mr McBurney was referring to Provisional IRA Army Council members? It also asked why Ms McWilliams is once again giving assessments on individual terror groups - UVF and INLA - but the IRC has never offered any assessment on the IRA? The IRC said its response was “no comment”.

Sinn Fein was also invited to comment.

Last year Chief Constable Simon Byrne told the News Letter that the PSNI still stands over the Northern Ireland Office's 2015 Assessment of Paramilitary groups, which asserted that the IRA Army Council still “oversees both PIRA and Sinn Féin with an overarching strategy”.

In 2020 Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said he shared the PSNI view on this.

In January former PSNI Chief Constable Sir George Hamilton said the inquiry into Kevin McGuigan's murder followed "a very strong line of inquiry" that it had been "sanctioned at senior levels" within the IRA.

He told the BBC: "In terms of the strategic direction of that political party, [Sinn Fein] it was controlled, it was directed by people that sat on the IRA Army Council."

The News Letter reported previoulsy that the Provisional IRA alone has committed 26 murders since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

In 2018 researcher Paul Nolan, supported by Queen’s University, said republicans had taken 74 lives, and loyalists 71, since the GFA.