The Irish Republican Army said Thursday that it was giving up its armed struggle for a united Ireland and agreeing to turn solely to political methods.
Slugger O’Toole, a blog covering politics in Northern Ireland, is a bit skeptical.
The IRA statement is now out, giving volunteers an order to dump arms – which we expected a number of years ago. The rest is the usual IRA-style statement – you could have written it yourself, it’s so predictable. As we’re watching the breaking news on Sky, there’s a collective shrug in this office. Frankly, no-one really cares what the republican movement says any more, because no-one believes it – it’s what it does that counts from here on in.
Given the sudden flury of activity, and the hype discussion around the statement issued today, it would be remiss of me not to note the discussions currently taking place on new anti-terrorism laws.
New, much tougher anti-terrorism laws, are scheduled to take effect soon.