The IRA seem to have lost the plot.

Damn pete, that was quick on the draw...

I thought it would be more appropriate if I followed it up, Gonzo.

Have the IRA really been asleep since before Tuesday 11 September 2001?

Times have changed .... they wouldn't dare.

Just as interesting, Sinn Fien made a statement for themselves

"The IRA will speak for itself and Sinn Féin will speak for ourselves,"

Irish Times Breaking News

Gerry Adams BLAMES the London and Dublin Governments for playing the BLAME game, he really has lost the plot.

The PIRA throw another tantrum because yesterday's tantrum didn't attract enough attention.

Are there any toys left in the pram for tomorrow's tantrum?

Why did 9/11 make an IRA return to war impossible?

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 an IRA return to war may not have been possible but as the years pass any inhibitory value 9/11 may have had diminishes.

If 9/11 did/does prevent a return to war why have IRA weapons been an issue? If they can't be used then making them a stumbling block appears merely to be an excuse to avoid power-sharing.

"Are there any toys left in the pram for tomorrow's tantrum?"

The RA have some pretty dangerous "toys" and this statement certainly comes across as sinister.

If 9/11 did/does prevent a return to war why have IRA weapons been an issue?

Five reasons come to mind

1) Bullet through both hands is latest atrocity by IRA
By David Lister
THEY call it the “Padre Pio”, but even by the sinister standards of Belfast punishment beatings it is particularly grotesque.
At least three teenagers are known to have fallen victim to the IRA’s latest mutilation technique: with their hands tied together as if in prayer, they are shot through both palms with a single bullet from point-blank range.
Named after the stigmata of Christ’s wounds from the Cross, the punishment is designed to teach a lesson to youths who dare to stand up and challenge their local IRA leaders. Given the strong Roman Catholicism of republican areas of Belfast, the symbolism of the attacks is lost on nobody.
Padre Pio was an Italian monk who was said to have borne stigmata on his hands for 50 years.
All three victims, aged 17 to 19, are believed to have been shot because they took on the wrong people with their fists — and their tailor-made punishments were selected precisely because they were “good with their hands”.

2) Quartermaster and/or unit defects to RIRA or CIRA taking weapons

3) Members of unit do some freelancing a lá Adare

4) Individual member goes on rampage or decides to settle an old score or whatever

5) Another group raids the bunkers.

All valid points Davros. However, none of them translate into Sinn Fein holding a gun to the heads of negotiators or fellow members of the executive. Which is the reason promulgated for not sharing power with SF.

Would, say, two uninterrupted years of the Assembly be worth it if at the end all the weapons were disposed of?

"Would, say, two uninterrupted years of the Assembly be worth it if at the end all the weapons were disposed of?"

Not if it means ordinary, decent nationalists and unionists sharing power with criminal gangsters and their associates. The rest of us have to have standards.

All valid points Davros. However, none of them translate into Sinn Fein holding a gun to the heads of negotiators or fellow members of the executive. Which is the reason promulgated for not sharing power with SF.

You asked a specific question and got a specific answer. And - the reasons SF are in the Doogy-doos at the moment are not because of their blackmail, but rather failure to sign up to an end to criminality and their complicity in unacceptable events.

RK

To answer the question: the issue is that the IRA can and does still use violence to control certain areas of Ireland. This in itself makes stable democracy impossible. However, when added to the fact that a party which seeks a position in the Government in the North and has representation in the Dáil is directly linked to the organization deliberately opposing democracy in this way, it becomes utterly intolerable.

The weapons themselves are not the issue, and Unionists are foolish to keep going on about them. Ongoing violent activity is the issue.

[I]The weapons themselves are not the issue, and Unionists are foolish to keep going on about them. Ongoing violent activity is the issue.[/I]
Not so. The implicit threat of violence should PSF not get its' way is the issue. No political party should be able to blackmail any other in that way. The weapons - of [I]offence[/I] - must go.