An Irish Times podcast on Sinn Féin & The Army Council from 2020, a fairly balanced look at the issue.

4 comments

1. If you put ‘Sinn Fein’ and ‘Army Council’ in your post title you’re gonna have a bad time

2. Not a bad discussion to be fair. I wouldn’t agree with some of it, (particularly the interpretation of ‘content with’ as ‘asking permission’).

   My own bottom line on the SF vs. IRA debate is that we all signed up to the Good Friday Agreement, the whole point of which was to include those figures in the political process. It’s the height of hypocrisy to turn around when they do just that and tell them ‘well actually, we only meant that theoretically’. All intelligence says that the IRA have decommissioned and are stood down – they did their part. We should do ours; we should be making sure that these people *are* included in political debate. NI has former IRA members in political office – but we’re too good for IRA figures to even be in contact with a TD? Honestly, 90% of the ‘debate’ just sounds like shit-stirring and Irish in the south thinking they are above the Irish in the north.

3. Besides a statement from the imc that former members of the provos believe the army council still exist and controls the Sinn Fein, is there really any evidence of it, how would the army council be elected? Does the ira executive still exist? Who elects them? If there is no army anymore surely it’s just six blokes meeting up and what formulating Sinn Fein housing policy?

   I’m very sceptical about this it’s all very vague and nonsensical. Of course there are going to be former members of the ira involved in politics that’s a positive thing. Like I wish the dissidents would give up violence and become involved in politics

4. I don’t care about the IRA bomb and guns side of sinn Fein. They fought for the freedom of the Irish in the north. It’s the heavy rumours of kiddie fiddling in sf and ira that I want resolved