The Fake IRA

Trouble in Northern Ireland. Two soldiers have died by machine gun fire from a new paramilitary group. From their name ‘The Real IRA’ I can deduce that their primary motivating factor was their belief that the IRA was off message in their recent lack of murdering. Obviously the fact that the peace process is actually working has rattled the cages of these hard line nationalists who fear that their purpose of murder and hatred is threatened by the prospect of a resolution. But what really annoys me most is the fact that everyone is dignifying this bunch of childish lunatics by using the name ‘The Real IRA’. The name was splashed across the news headlines without irony. Apart from leading the ill-informed to assume that the story is that the original IRA was fake, it lends credibility to the idiotic notion that this bunch of arsed faced monkey brained thugs are the new faces of Northern Irish Republicanism. These sorts of people are always either presented as a minority from the lunatic fringe or a serious and credible threat. The middle ground in which this group exists, i.e. a minority from the lunatic fringe armed with machine guns, is often overlooked.

I am pleased to say that subsequently there have been mass rallies in Northern Ireland against the recent attacks. None of them want a return to the violence of the Troubles. Carrying placards reading "No Going Back", more than 2,000 people gathered in front of Belfast City Hall.