The Irish Republican Army has only one purpose:- to get the British out of Ireland.

Now that that aim is almost complete (a much un-accepted fact, I might add), its function is likewise almost complete.

Whatever else is going on here; and remember also the much more serious, proven cases of collusion between the actual Law Enforcement Agencies of the six counties, and the illegal Loyalist Paramilitary Organisations, this robbery is not the work, nor the sanction of the Provisional IRA.

Fact of the matter is (much to the annoyance of many more, I further to add), that Sinn Féin is fast becoming an extremely viable party both north and south of those change in road signs that 'The Border' has become.

All the rest is just Party Politics, and so it will continue to be.
'The IRA' is a decent enough stick to brow-beat Sinn Féin with, especially if it gets you a sympathy vote at the next election.

And God help us, but Bertie and the bhoys need all the deflection they can get these days in the wake of the Ray Burke fiasco.

Nice to see all the Brits (both Eastern and Western) getting their collective knickers in a twist over this one.
You must be feeling rather impotent as you watch Britannia lose one more wave.
(as if you hadn't enough problems of your own these days....)

The Intelligence may well be sound (although would you take your country to War over it...., again?).
The bitch, though, really lies in the interpretation of it, don't you think?

And where have we heard that one before?

Grow up, for Christ's sake.