THE BRITISH and Irish governments have denied talking to dissident republican groups and called for united action to remove the threat of violence.
Speaking after bilateral discussions in Co Louth yesterday on security and other cross-Border issues, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern and Northern Secretary Owen Paterson said there were no negotiations. “They have no political agenda, they have not indicated [one] in any shape or form so it is really academic,” Mr Ahern said.
“These are people who are denying the will of the Irish people. We work hand in glove with the authorities on the other side of the Border on a political and a policing level. We will continue to.” He said there were “no back channels” of communication.
“They are small in number and we don’t think they are recruiting in large numbers at all. There may well be a few disaffected people from past history who may well be moving towards them. There may be cross-germination from other groups but I don’t think we should overestimate them.”
But “we shouldn’t underestimate them either because, as the Provos used to say, they only need to get lucky once”, he added.
Mr Paterson, who had held talks in Dublin with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin and Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, said the dissident threat was being taken very seriously.
“We should not underestimate them. They have no popular support, they have no one elected, they have no political agenda that we can see and it is up to us all to work closely together.”
Speaking ahead of a meeting with Stormont Justice Minister David Ford on the dissident problem, Mr Paterson stressed that partnership between everyone on the island of Ireland was vital. “We are working extremely closely together at government level,” he said. “I would stress also that people on the ground can help. The police in Northern Ireland are now entirely in local hands and it is up to everyone to work together to ensure that this small number of dangerous people do not achieve their aims.”
Asked about the ability of dissident groups to attract recruits, Mr Paterson said: “I think they may have attracted some people but they are still very small in number. But they have only got to be lucky once and we must all be very vigilant.”
On the question of talks, he referred to the lack of a coherent political wing. “I don’t know who you talk to. These groups are very small, they keep breaking up and splitting and it is very hard to see what it is that they really want.
“They have some vague idea of breaking up the peace process, but we can see the huge gains in Northern Ireland from the process. It seems that politicians at all levels are absolutely determined not to be knocked off course by it.
“We have had not talks with these groups. We cannot have serious negotiations with people who are only two weeks ago trying to kill a 12-year-old girl and a two-year-old girl. That is not the way we carry on.”