IRELAND - PEACE & DEMOCRACY? - IN THE PAST MI5 ESCHEWED SUCH NICETIES

In what must be a disturbing development in relation to the continued militarisation of Northern Ireland it has been revealed that the so-called 'Special Reconnaissance Regiment' (SRR) has unit(s) deployed there.

The SRR is of course an offshoot of British Special Forces which operated in Ireland for many years and were credited by many reputable commentators with conducting clandestine operations both North and South of the border.

The SRR has another reputed claim to fame in that it appears to have grown directly out of several embryonic special forces dirty tricks operations, including the infamous 14th Intelligence Company. The 14th reputedly comprised approx. 100 personnel organised into smaller 'Field Survey Troops' which were accused of acting in collusion with loyalist paramilitaries by former intelligence personnel. They are believed to have been involved in the death of senior Provisional Irish Republican Army member, Francis Green, the Miami Showband killings and the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings amongst other clandestine bombings and murders.

Obviously living up to its dubious lineage the SRR, although only recently, formed is already mired in controversy as operatives are believed to have been involved in the controversial De Menezez shooting in London.

Where developments in Ireland go from here is unclear but it is doubtful if the MI5 operation at their new Loughside HQ and the 'field operatives' they have imported from the SRR will be devoted to that salient principle of the Belfast Agreement: «a commitment by all parties to use exclusively peaceful and democratic means».

After all in the past the British intelligence agencies in Ireland eschewed such niceties.

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

05/03/09