Quote:
|
Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
I also know that the man I spoke to on the train was no Easter-16 vet: he was old, but nothing like that old! I got the impression that he was the son of an Official IRA fighter who had been brought up in the shadow of his father's struggle, and had kept the rifle as a result.
|
That sounds much more likely!
And entirely possible. However, not every old man in the Republic has a gun under the bed!
Quote:
|
I also know from my friends and cousins in the North that it's widely thought ( up there, anyway; or at least by them ) that the PIRA had nothing to do with the recent bank-robbery, given that they didn't claim credit for it, which they'd always done in the past.
|
The PIRA has never, to my knowledge, ever claimed "credit" for its criminal actions. It is heavily involved in money laundering and armed robbery (though to a lesser degree than before). These are the "dirty laundry" that the PIRA and Sinn Fein try to hide. They used to claim "credit" for their murders, assassinations, bombings and attacks, but never their grubby handed robberies.
Both the British Government and the Irish Government (who I'm much more likely to believe) have both stated that they believe the PIRA were involved. I think time will tell.
Quote:
|
Most of my contacts seem to think the CIRA, RIRA, or one of the Loyalist groups such as the Red Hand Defenders or UDA was responsible.
|
The Loyalists couldn't organize that robbery in a million years. They're too busy peddling drugs and killing each other in criminal feuds. The RIRA and CIRA are extremely small and effectively disfunctional splinter groups that also would not have the logistical ability to launder this amount of money, let alone carry out the raid in such military precision. By the way, the van used came from the Republic, and not the North.
But as I said, I guess time will tell. I would be extremely surprised if it was proven to be someone else.
Mr Mephisto
PS - We need a seperate Irish politics thread!