PSNI chief constable ‘believes the IRA still exists’

POLICE officers in Northern Ireland hold “great and justifiable concern” about a suspected Provisional IRA link to a Belfast murder.

Head of the PSNI, George Hamilton, said that while some of the the Provisional IRA structures remain in place, its goal has radically changed since the 1990s, and that it is no longer involved in terrorism.

PFNI chairman Mark Lindsay said: “This was a deliberate and measured assessment by the PSNI, conscious that every syllable would be placed under the microscope and weighed and analysed”.

In a statement last night, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams criticised those who he claimed “opportunistically and cynically seized on the killing of Kevin McGuigan in a deliberate effort to undermine Sinn Féin’s mandate” and the peace process.

A 60-year-old man was arrested earlier in connection with the shooting.

The accused – Patrick John Fitzpatrick, 53, from west Belfast – was remanded in custody at Lisburn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

Mr McGuigan was gunned down in east Belfast in a suspected feud between former IRA members.

First Minister Peter Robinson had said he would discuss the prospect of excluding Sinn Féin from the executive with other Northern Ireland parties. He was shot dead in front of his wife, Dolores, outside their home in the republican Short Strand area.

A Sinn Fein delegation, including assembly member and former IRA member Gerry Kelly, again rejected the suggestion that the IRA was involved in the killings, and said that the group had stood down over 10 years ago.

“Action Against Drugs has emerged from within the Republican community from a range of backgrounds”.

He added that the actions of individual criminal elements or gangs must not be allowed to derail the peace and political process. It is a mix of criminals and former republicans who have engaged in intimidation and violence in pursuit of their criminal ends.

“I would appeal to anyone with information about this murder to come forward to police”.

“We should all remember at the outset that the stimulus for this public debate has been the tragic murder of Kevin McGuigan following the equally tragic murder of Gerard “Jock” Davison”.

“Our next step is to seek an urgent meeting with the Secretary of State when Theresa Villiers returns from holiday next week”. “I urge anyone with information to contact the police in confidence”.