New IRA: Experts challenge claim from ex-Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan that poverty is key to New IRA recruitment

Baroness Nuala O'Loan was speaking after the terror threat level in NI was raised to severe and after serious UDA-linked violence in Bangor.

"I think one of the problems that we've consistently had in Northern Ireland is a difficult economic situation, which leaves some young men marginalised, and there's nothing to give them a sense of purpose," she told Good Morning Ulster. "And I think that when the New IRA are presenting in those quarters, it's almost inevitable that people will be attracted."

She added that coercion is another key factor and said restoring the assembly was key, to bring economic progress and political stability

But former head of the PSNI Organised Crime Branch, Roy McComb, said public support for terrorism is also major a factor in recruitment.

"In some places we have careless commentary from some people apparently justifying terrorism in the past," he told the BBC.

Asked if such commentary would contribute to young people joining terror groups, he replied: "I don't think it can be anything other than to encourage [that]".

He cited the First Minister Designate's claim there was "no alternative" to IRA violence and the profile of the Loyalist Communities Council’s role, which he said was "a voice for, effectively, terrorist groups".

Former IRA bomber Shane Paul Doherty said the suggestion that unemployment and coercion are key factors in New IRA recruitment are "nonsense".

He told the News Letter: "Many IRA volunteers had well paid jobs in Du Pont and in Molins Engineering or were self-employed electricians, plumbers and bricklayers. Some ran their own businesses or had farms, small or large."

Another key factor aiding in New IRA recruitment, he said, was, "Tony Blair's huge gift to the nearly-defeated IRA for giving up violence - a secretive Amnesty, access to the highest corridors of political power, massive Peace Dividend financial rewards and a clear run at rewriting history".

Strangford MP DUP Jim Shannon said the NI Affairs Committee has recently heard evidence about poverty and deprivation as factors in paramilitary recruitment.

"However, we cannot ignore the impact that celebrating and glorifying terrorism has in attracting disenfranchised and marginalised individuals into such groups," he said.