Names of Republicans in the IRA

Peter Robinson DUP and MP uses Parliment to name new IRA leader who is not a dove but a hawk

DUP reveals new IRA chief MP Robinson names latest Provo leader DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson has used the legal cover of Parliament to name a man as the newest member of the IRA's Army Council.

Mr Robinson said Sean Gerard Hughes was a "ruthless killer and thug" linked to a series of deadly attacks in the South Armagh area and in England.

He argued that his recent elevation to the top rank of the IRA showed the organisation is "not shaping up for peace". Security sources in Northern Ireland have privately agreed with Mr Robinson's report of a reshuffle in the seven member IRA Army Council. During a House of Commons debate last night, Mr Robinson said: "In the past few months, there have been personnel changes at the top level of the Provisional IRA. "There has been a significant change in the army council: the most ruthless killer and thug in the ranks of the Provisional IRA - Sean Gerard Hughes, who has been linked to many murders on this side of the water and in Northern Ireland - has been brought on to it. "He has been linked to the south quay bombing in Canary Wharf, which brought the previous IRA ceasefire to an end in 1996 and in which two citizens were killed. He was also responsible for the murder of 12 soldiers at Warrenpoint, the mortar bomb in Newry and the killing of Justice Gibson and his wife. "Does it sound like the IRA is putting a dove on its army council? If a dove was anywhere near Sean Gerard Hughes, he would kill it, but not until he had tortured it - that is what he has done to many of the victims of his organisation, and he was directly linked to those murders.

"It is clear that the IRA is not shaping up for peace but is putting one of its most ruthless terrorists on to its army council, which is not consistent with the picture that the Government are attempting to paint of the intentions of the Provisional IRA and its political representatives in Sinn Fein."

Mr Robinson has previously used parliamentary privilege to identify senior members of the IRA.

Mr Robinson was speaking in support of a DUP motion in the Commons opposing Government proposals to put former prisoners on local policing boards if IRA activity winds up. The motion was defeated by 298 votes to six, a majority of 292.Belfast Telegraph 3rd December 2002

A leaked document to the "Sunday Times,25th March, 2001"
names the men who run the IRA

The Sunday Times has revealed for the first time the full list of the men who run the IRA. It has been verified by senior sources in the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Irish police. Bearing the address "Head Quarters, Dublin", it names the seven members of the IRA's ruling army council and the nine members of its general headquarters (GHQ) staff. The list confirms that the organisation is dominated by Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, and his allies.

Sinn Fein members on the council include Adams, the West Belfast MP, and Martin McGuinness, the MP for Mid Ulster who is also the Northern Ireland education minister.

Last night a senior Irish security source said: "This list appears to us to be correct. Adams was off the army council for some time, but has come back since the decommissioning debate opened and now they have many of the leading politicians on it." He added that there was no intelligence to suggest any planned return to violence.

The British government believes Adams is in a strong position to bring about the decommissioning of IRA weapons. The list of names indicates that he enjoys a comfortable majority at the top of the organisation and this will increase government optimism.

The other Sinn Fein members are Martin Ferris, a candidate for the Irish parliament and convicted gunrunner, and a fourth man who cannot be named. The chief of staff and head of the IRA is Thomas "Slab" Murphy, a millionaire racketeer and smuggler from south Armagh who was instrumental in bringing about the 1994 ceasefire and then planning the London Docklands bombing which broke it.

The IRA's assistant chief of staff is Brian Keenan, an Adams supporter and veteran bomber who is the IRA representative on General John de Chastelain's independent international commission on decommissioning (IICD). At his last IICD meeting Keenan said that in the correct circumstances the IRA was committed to putting its arms beyond use.

The seventh council member is Brian Gillen, 31, an Adams appointee from Belfast who has been jailed for arms and explosives offences.

Below the council members are nine GHQ staff members, most of whom took the places of better-known members who left the IRA during ceasefires.The key figure is Martin Lynch, 51, the adjutant-general, who has day-to-day control of the IRA. Last year a car used by Lynch, which took Adams and McGuinness to meetings with the IRA, was found to contain an MI5 bugging device.

The head of engineering responsible for weapons and explosives is Bernard Fox, one of the 1981 hunger strikers and regarded as close to Adams. IRA intelligence is directed by Bobby Storey, who has been jailed on arms charges.

The finance director responsible for organising robbery and racketeering is Patrick Thompson, 47, who was jailed in 1977 for murdering four soldiers.

BBC NEWS Wednesday, 28 March, 2001, 17:32 GMT 18:32 UK Paisley makes IRA accusations

Ian Paisley: Made allegations under parliamentary privilege The Democratic Unionist Party leader has used a House of Commons debate to highlight newspaper claims that three Sinn Fein assembly members are senior IRA men. During Northern Ireland Question-Time in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Ian Paisley asked Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid about weekend newspaper claims that Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Pat Doherty were IRA members.

Under Parliamentary privilege Ian Paisley names terrorists involved in the "Kingsmill massacre" click here to learn more

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Pat Doherty was born in Glasgow and is a former Donegal resident, he is also known by the nickname of "Papa Doc". His brother Hugh was part of the IRA Balcombe Street gang. Today he is Vice President of Sinn Fein.

Leading some to speculate that he may have been a long term informer.

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