IRA will target G8 and COC13: NW MP

The local MP said the dissidents are using high levels of unemployment in Northern Ireland to target young people and recruit them within their ranks.

Speaking during a debate on the security situation at Westminster Mr Campbell professed: “The capacity of dissident terrorists - who now come under the umbrella of the IRA - to carry out their activities cannot and must not be underestimated.

“The fact that those terrorists have carried out six or seven gun or bomb attacks each and every month of this year is evidence of their capacity.”

He referred to the fact that PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggot has said that the terrorists do not have the capacity for a sustained campaign.

Mr Campbell said: “They are not in the same category as the Provisional IRA and it appears at present that they are not even intent on a sustained level of bombing and shooting on every day of every week of every month, for a number of reasons.

“They do not have the manpower - or the woman-power either - or the expertise, although they are gaining in that regard.

“What they are doing, however - unfortunately, Mr David Black and his family were at the receiving end of their capacity - is allowing a week, a fortnight or a month to go by and then hitting a target that they know will get a headline and generate adverse publicity.”

The East Londonderry MP said events like UK City of Culture 2013 and the G8 summit would be in the sights of violent republicans.

“For example, they are aware that Londonderry will be the first ever UK city of culture next year, which is why they targeted the cultural offices in the city of Londonderry. They knew that that would get a headline of some magnitude,” he said.

He also pointed out: “The G8 has been announced and we congratulate the Prime Minister on, and thank him for, his work in delivering it.

“There will be an unprecedented arrival of people in, and attention on, Northern Ireland for all the good reasons. People will come to Fermanagh and there will be intense publicity not just for the three days that they are there, but for the weeks that lead up to it and, I hope, subsequent to their departure.

“That has to be and must be a force for good, and yet there is the potential - just as dissidents have targeted other occasions that were a force for good - for the dissidents’ force for evil.

“They will undoubtedly be looking at ways to undermine that significantly beneficial event for Northern Ireland, so we must be aware of their capacity to do so.”

The local unionist also said violent republicans are using the grim economic circumstances in Londonderry and elsewhere as a recruiting sergeant.

“Just like the Provisional IRA before them, the dissident elements are undoubtedly targeting young people who are unemployed and saying to them: ‘The peace process has brought you nothing.

“‘It has not benefited you with employment, in getting you out of the ghetto or in improving your lifestyle or standard of living. Therefore, join us in trying to finish the job that the provos started but could not finish.’”