N. IRELAND: Killings Widely Denounced [12 March 2009]

Summary: The murder of two soldiers and one policemen mark the first major incidences of violence in years as IRA extremist factions attempt to undermine the peace process.

Development: On 7 March, two soldiers were killed at the Massereene barracks in Antrim, Northern Ireland.  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown quickly responded, declaring “The North Irish peace process would never be shaken.” However, IRA dissidents continued violence, killing a member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) two days later. According to the Spokesman for the Prime Minister, Shaun Woodward, multiple groups are claiming responsibility for the attacks. Amidst increasing tensions over the past twelve months, this is the first outbreak of violence since the end of the Irish Civil War in 1998.

Analysis: Woodward’s comments, alluding to a number of possible disparate groups, all having connections to the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA, suggests a unified attempt to disrupt the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland. This violent episode comes at a vulnerable time for both the Robinson administration and the PSNI. The long power struggle between Catholics and Protestants has created a weakened, devolved government. The PSNI’s security failures and inability to root out the most extreme factions is attributed to the recent departure of many veteran intelligence officers.  Although it remains to be seen whether the two killings will be episodic events or the harbingers of another round of insurgent warfare, the Northern Ireland public has no desire to return to the disturbances of the latter decades of the twentieth century.

[James McCarty]