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Dissident groups cannot achieve united Ireland 27.7.2012 | Sinn Féin News
Sinn Féin MLA for North Belfast, Gerry Kelly, has stated that the reported coming together of the Real IRA,
RAAD and a number of other micro-factions will not achieve anything.
Speaking today Mr Kelly said:
“The coming together of several dissident groups is not surprising given the fractious nature of those who
are behind such groupings. They have over the past number of years come and gone, split and reformed on an
ongoing basis.
What is very clear from this move is that it is further evidence that they have no strategy and their aims
are as clear as mud. RAAD for example have claimed to be an anti-drugs group who have now joined a larger
dissident group with different aims. This latest move appears to be more to do with ego’s and personal
fiefdoms than anything else.
That is not to say that they cannot be dangerous. They have in the past killed people, the majority of
whom have been from the nationalist community. However these actions can take us nowhere. Meanwhile they are
happy to risk the lives and liberty of young, impressionable people to achieve nothing. There is no community
support for these groups. They need to desist, and they need to realise that they cannot achieve a united
Ireland in this way.
There is a political strategy in place which the vast majority of Irish republicans and nationalists,
along with the overwhelming majority of the people on this island, have endorsed.”
First published in: Sinn Fein News
July 27th 2012
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