Keith, you know very well why I asked you the specific question. It is because you seek to lump Irish Republicanism with terrorism, using the catchall phrase of "republicans" or "republican violence". Once you get specific, it is easy to show the bias. Let's look at what you posted.

Coninuity IRA - this is a splinter group of dissidents that is estimated to have 50 to 80 members, according to Reuters.

RIRA - a splinter off CIRA that has even fewer members.

IRLA - according to the Independent Monitoring Commission this group is "not terrorist in nature" and is essentially a group of folks involved in criminal activity.

INLA - estimated to have a couple of dozen members, and a few hundred supporters.

Oglaigh na hEirrean - one of a number of groups using the name, but the one I suppose you refer to is the splinter off of CIRA. They have few weapons, have committed some robberies, and use pipe bombs from time to time.

Add it all up and you have a few hundred, then stack that against the Republicans that have embraced the peace process, and you see that they will make a few headlines but the day of the gun is essentially over. It is now about the ballot box.

Finally I want to address this remark:

The point being made was that witholding weapons and using them is much worse than witholding them but not using them.


That is exactly what I mean when I say you folks have been twisting the truth so long that you don't even realize you are doing it. If you really believed in the process you renounce that for the load of bollocks it is. Either you need weapons or you don't. If the Loyalists believed in the process, they would decommission, as PIRA did, and leave the few hundred dissidents to the authorities. And if you folks across the pond really believed in the process you would just say that they are wrong for not decommissioning.

Mick