The Real IRA returned to the headlines in recent weeks, writes Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor
Dissident republicans have persisted with their campaign of violence in the Border areas, especially in the Newry area of south Down and along the Border and into Co Louth. Other operations centre on the Derry-Strabane area of the northwest.
Resolutely opposed to the Provisional IRA ceasefire, decommissioning of paramilitary weapons and the political process, the Real IRA last week claimed responsibility for the firebomb attacks on stores in Newry.
These destroyed two warehouse-style stores and severely damaging others. The cost is estimated at millions of pounds.
Firebombs destroyed JJB Sports and CarpetRight stores in the town, while a TK Maxx store and MFI outlet were among those badly damaged on Wednesday last week.
Dissidents have also continued to disrupt the cross-Border railway line, largely with hoax bomb warnings. However, the line from Belfast to Dublin was also closed last week while police searches were carried out.
These operations followed a warning by the Real IRA in a statement that there may be unexploded devices on the line.
The Real IRA, like other dissident groupings, was formed in the aftermath of the reinstatement of the Provisional IRA ceasefire in 1997. Those joining the new splinter grouping were former IRA members resolutely opposed to the peace process in general and the political leadership of Sinn Féin in particular.
Senior Sinn Féin figures continue to denounce the dissidents as "micro groups" involved in a counter-productive campaign of disruption.
Initially the Real IRA was believed to include a former "quartermaster-general" of the IRA and a former "head of engineering".
According to one source, there was speculation over the following months that many members of the "engineering" section of the IRA left to join the Real IRA. Membership of the organisation was initially put at between 100 and 200 people. Most of the support for the group was initially in the Dundalk and Newry area with some support in Dublin. It is believed to have political links with the 32-County Sovereignty Committee and other links to the Continuity IRA.
The Real IRA is believed to have access to some of the equipment that belonged to the IRA.
The group is thought to be responsible for a series of explosions after the IRA resumed its ceasefire in towns across Northern Ireland in the run-up to the signing of the Belfast Agreement in April 1998. These attacks included large car bombs and incendiary attacks on commercial property. Its most lethal attack was in Omagh on August 15th, 1998, when 29 people, including a mother pregnant with twins, were killed in a bomb explosion in the town centre. Hundreds more were injured.
A ceasefire of sorts was later announced but paramilitary activity has since resumed, although lately many of the Real IRA's planned attacks have been safely scuppered by police.
Membership is probably no more than a few dozen, with some former Real IRA figures reported to have left for the Continuity IRA following Omagh.
Dissident republican groups still figure prominently in the reports of the British and Irish governments' ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC).
In its tenth report earlier this year, the IMC said: "Dissident republicans remain determinedly committed to terrorism and deeply engaged in other crime, but they are not always capable of fulfilling their paramilitary ambitions and have recently been foiled by successful police operations."
The IMC believes the Real IRA, like the Continuity IRA, is involved in bombing attempts, shootings, recruitment, targeting and intelligence gathering.
"RIRA remains involved in serious crime," the IMC reported, warning also that some members carry out attacks or robberies on a "freelance" basis.
In the same IMC report, the watchdog reported: "RIRA continues to recruit and train members. It has a continuing aspiration to arm and equip itself. Overall, we believe that, although the RIRA's level of activity is not very high, it is still engaged in efforts to maintain its position as a paramilitary organisation."