1 Boring Old Man

Sinn Féin denounces Real IRA bombing of M15 headquarters
guardian.co.uk
by Henry McDonald
April 12, 2010

^{The remains of a car bomb outside the British army base Palace Barracks in Belfast, Northern Ireland.}

Sinn Féin has denounced the Real IRA for the bomb attack on MI5’s headquarters claiming that the dissidents cannot set back the political progress. Deputy first minister and Sinn Féin MP Martin McGuinness condemned the anti-peace process republicans for today’s bombing. He said: "We know there are people out there who are opposed to the peace process and political progress, but I think the best answer to those people is for the political process to remain in the driving seat. "What’s happening today clearly shows that the political process is in the driving seat and we will not be deflected. "It is a truly historic day – people out there who would like to destroy the peace process are not going to succeed because of the strength of the political process we have built up over recent years."

Northern Ireland’s first minister Peter Robinson echoed McGuinness’s condemnation and said it was obvious that the attack had been timed to take place just before the transfer of policing and justice powers. The Democratic Unionist Party leader said: "It defines very clearly for the people of Northern Ireland the choice between the bloody and dark past we have come through or moving forward and making stability, peace and prosperity the priority. "There’s no question about why the target was chosen or its timing – it’s an attempt to intimidate assembly members as they meet today to move forward on policing and justice.

The Real IRA admitted earlier that it launched the bomb attack on MI5’s regional headquarters in Northern Ireland, timed to coincide with the transfer of judicial and policing powers to the Stormont assembly. The device, transported to the base at Holywood, Co Down, was designed to go off hours before Stormont appoints a new justice minister. A taxi driver was subjected to a terrifying ordeal after his car was hijacked in the Ligoniel district of north Belfast late on Sunday. The driver was held for about three hours by armed dissidents before being ordered to take the bomb in his car across the city to the MI5 HQ. While he was travelling to the other side of Belfast, armed dissidents held his family hostage in their own home. On arrival at the Old Holywood Road on the eastern outskirts of Belfast, the driver got out of his taxi and alerted the security forces that there was a bomb in his car…

Sinn Féin is the official Party of Catholic Ireland. The Provisional IRA [Irish Republican Army] was doing the bombing back when I was there. I presume that the Real IRA is a new group, the leftovers who don’t accept "reconciliation" [the peace process negotiated with the Ulster Protestants]. The big first step in "reconciliation" is as you might guess is the formation of a joint law enforcement agency [and they need one with their history]. Whatever this is about, it’s bigger than what shows – Catholic versus Protestant, Irish versus English. I once said to a guy in a pub in Ireland [Southern Ireland], "I’m southern. It seems like growing up in the segregated South in the U.S. I ought to understand all of this, but I don’t." He said something like, "Don’t even try. I don’t think I even understand it myself. It just is what it is."